Update: The Victoria HarbourCats extended their winning streak to 11 games on Sunday, defeating the Cowlitz Black Bears 6-0 before a Father's Day crowd of 2,584 at Royal Athletic Park. Will McAffer, starting pitcher for the HarbourCats, kept the Black Bears to just two hits over six innings.
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Ask Victoria HarbourCats head coach Graig Merritt what鈥檚 behind the early success of his young charges and the answer comes quickly and succinctly.
鈥淧itching man, pitching,鈥� said Merritt, whose troops recorded a new franchise record for consecutive wins with their 10th in a tight 6-4 triumph over the visiting Cowlitz Black Bears on a cool Saturday night at Royal Athletic Park.
鈥淥pponents are hitting .194 off our pitching staff, so it鈥檚 going to be hard for other teams to win ball games when they can鈥檛 get base hits or score runs.
鈥淥ur pitching and our defence is what鈥檚 got us in this position, for sure.
鈥淵ou guys see the 11 runs and the nine runs, but that鈥檚 not what it is,鈥� Merritt said. 鈥淭hese pitchers are keeping us in the ball game from the first pitch to the last pitch.鈥�
Victoria is now 8-0 at home and 10-3 overall, and broke the previous franchise mark of nine straight victories set in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. They now eye the West Coast League record of 14 victories, set by Wenatchee in 2011.
The HarbourCats will close out the series with Cowlitz today in a Father鈥檚 Day matin茅e at 1 p.m.
The opponents鈥� .194 hitting percentage (prior to Saturday鈥檚 game) was tops in the league for the HarbourCats, but the team was also collectively hitting .299 鈥� second in the WCL behind Yakima's .301.
Cameron Cannon delivered the winning run on a double to left that scored pinch-runner Matt Lautz in the eighth.
Victoria added an insurance run in the same inning and reliever Holden Lyons recorded the win.
Victoria鈥檚 starting pitcher Jack Wolger started off sluggishly on Saturday, allowing Cowlitz right-fielder Wes Hatten to crush the left-hander's offering over the left-field fence for a three-run home run and a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Ben Polshuk and P.J. Floyd drove in runs for Victoria in the bottom half of the first to cut it to 3-2 and Riley Guntrip and Cody Snider hit back-to-back home runs to right-centre as the HarbourCats led 4-3 in the fourth.
鈥淚t does make it easier on the pitchers, but we鈥檝e been in a lot of close ball games, too,鈥� Merritt said of the early run support.
鈥淟ike I say, the pitching has been carrying us, but it is easier to pump strikes when we are up four or five runs. We just have to keep grinding away and win ball games.鈥�
Cowlitz tied it on a bases-loaded walk in the fifth before the late heroics.
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