VICTORIA 6
BEND 5
Leading the West Coast League in pitching with the lowest team batting average against, it comes as no surprise that the Victoria HarbourCats placed three hurlers on the North Division all-star team.
Will McAffer, Austin Dondanville and Josh Mitchell will all make their way to Longview, Wash., for next Tuesday鈥檚 annual extravaganza, played host by the Cowlitz Black Bears.
The HarbourCats鈥� pitching trio will be joined by second baseman Griffin Andreychuk of Nanaimo and outfielders Ben Polshuk and Jarron Silva.
The North and South teams were announced on Monday, previous to Victoria鈥檚 11th-inning 6-5 win over the Bend Elks, courtesy of a Cameron Cannon bases-loaded single, in front of 1,748 at Royal Athletic Park.
Victoria鈥檚 league-leading team pitching average was .185 entering the night and had surrendered just 167 hits against, the only team below .200.
鈥淥ur staff has been great. Our No. 1, 2 and 3 guys are all going and we have the three position guys going, too. Our team has done really well this year. There is a lot of individual talent, for sure,鈥� said McAffer, the North Vancouver product who starred for the North Shore Twins prior to heading south.
Dondanville鈥檚 earned run average of 0.63 leads the WCL and his win-loss record is 4-0. McAffer is 4-1 and sits seventh in ERA at 1.52 while Mitchell鈥檚 1.91 ERA sits 11th and he, too, is 4-0.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a great experience. It鈥檚 always nice to be honoured as an all-star,鈥� added McAffer, who is in his first year of summer ball, just finishing Year 1 at South Dakota State and is now moving on to Central Arizona University.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to sound cocky, but I kind of expected it because I鈥檝e had a pretty good year so far,鈥� he said of his all-star nod.
Entering the evening, Silva鈥檚 .338 batting average was fourth in the circuit while Andreychuk sat eighth at .328 and Polshuk (who plays more first base than outfield) led all WCL hitters with five home runs and his average was .316.
On Tuesday, Cameron Schneider took the mound for the 鈥機ats, but allowed five runs on nine hits over four and two-thirds innings before being replaced by Mitchell. McAffer pitched a scoreless seventh and Holden Lyons closed it out.
Victoria used a two-run home run from P.J. Floyd in the fifth and a pair of miscues by Bend shortstop George Mendazona, that were called hits in the sixth, turned the game around.
On Sunday, the Elks put a beating on HarbourCats pitching (giving up 18 hits) in a 15-8 win, the first official loss at home for Victoria. Patrick Flynn had two home runs and collected five RBIs for the Elks, who collectively hit four out of the park. Flynn added another dinger on Monday as Bend built up a 5-1 lead in the fifth.
鈥淥ur last game hurt us a bit, but before that teams were hitting like a buck-75 (.175) against us and that鈥檚 unheard of. Unreal,鈥� said McAffer.
The HarbourCats did drop another result at Royal Athletic, 2-1 to Kelowna, but it was a make-up game that was rained out in the Interior and thus officially a road defeat.
Victoria heads to Gresham for a three-game series which begins tonight, and then on to Bend before the all-star game Tuesday and a home series that begins July 20 against Bellingham.
