VICTORIA 11
YAKIMA VALLEY 5
听
A huge crowd showed up to see a huge baseball game Monday night at Royal Athletic Park and the Victoria HarbourCats didn鈥檛 disappoint.
In a showdown of teams in the thick of the West Coast League wild-card playoff race, the surging HarbourCats knocked off the Yakima Valley Pippins 11-5 in front of 4,307 fans on the holiday Monday. It was the fifth straight win for Victoria and allowed them to remain 21脷2 games back of wild-card holder Corvallis, which beat Walla Walla on Monday. The HarbourCats (26-22) have six games remaining in the regular season, while Corvallis (28-20) has five.
The Pippins are knocking on the playoff door as well, but the HarbourCats may have slammed it shut on them on Monday as Yakima Valley drops to 26-23.
And it was the wily veteran doing most of the damage as Alex DeGoti of Long Beach State went three-for-five with a key RBI in the HarbourCats鈥� three-run sixth. DeGoti also led off the eighth with a double to the wall in centre field and then came around to score on a two-RBI double by leadoff man Kevin Collard.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a confident bunch now, we鈥檙e hitting another level,鈥� said Degoti. 鈥淓very night out now we feel our offence, defence and pitching is going to be good now so we think we can get that playoff spot.鈥�
Degoti, who played third base on Monday, started the season slow at the plate, but has now bumped his average up to .288.
鈥淚 just had to keep telling myself to stay with it,鈥� added Degoti. 鈥淵ou hit three-for-10 in this game and your probably a Hall of Famer. So I just stayed patient, kept working with the coaches and didn鈥檛 get down and now things are turning around.鈥�
The HarbourCats put up five runs in that eighth inning to put the game on ice. Outfielder A.J. Alcantara had a two-run double to pace the offence.
P.J. Floyd and Austin Guibor also chipped in two hits apiece on the night.
Victoria starter Austin Dondanville had another strong outing. The righty from Cal-Poly San Louis Obispo went seven innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs to pick up his fourth win of the season. Shawn Kennedy and Mikey Wright pitched an inning each in relief.
Yakima starter Matt Campbell (2-1) took the loss, going five innings and giving up five runs.
EXTRA BASES: Following the three-game set with the Pippins, the HarbourCats get a day off Thursday and then head to Bellingham for the final three road games of the season. And, if it matters in the standings, the July 26 rainout against Yakima Valley will be made up on Monday at Royal Athletic Park.
