By Larry Read

Another chapter in the short but successful history of the Edmonton Riverhawks will unfold beginning Saturday at RE/MAX Field.

After setting the league single-season attendance record 116,871 fans, The Riverhawks will play in their first-ever West Coast League playoff series as they do battle with the Bellingham Bells.   Game one of the best-of-three series will take place Saturday (Aug 10) at 7:00 PM MST.

Edmonton finished the regular season with a 32-22 record.  That was the second-best record in the WCL North Division. The Riverhawks were 14-13 in the second half and 6-4 in their last 10 outings.

Bellingham had the third best record in the division (31-22). The Bells were .500 in their last 10 games and sported a 14-12 record in the second half.

Head-to-head, these teams met six times in the regular season. The Bells won 4 of the games.

Edmonton opened the regular campaign in Washington State May 31-June 2nd.  The Bells took two of the three games (5-4 and 14-13).  Edmonton took the middle of the three-game set (3-2).

They then met at RE/MAX June 25-27 where the Riverhawks won the first game 2-1 before dropping the next two 8-4 and 6-1.

Statistically, players to watch for the Riverhawks are #36 Jakob Poturnak.  Poturnak was 10th in the WCL batting race.  He hit .318 appearing in 49 games, with a team leading 42 RBI and three homers.

Poturnak, #51 Royce Hale and #54 Sam Kane led Edmonton with three homers this season.   Pitching wise # 33 Haden Knoll was third in the WCL in earned run average (2.54).  He appeared in 12 games (starting 10) going 4-3, striking out 49 and walking 22.

For Bellingham #11 Nate Kirkpatrick was sixth in WCL batting with an average of .332.  He had 35 RBI and four homers in 53 games.  #32 Jacob Mejia had 38 RBI and six homers while #14 Devyn Hernandez led their pitching staff with four wins and an E.R.A. of 1.19.

Tickets for Saturday’s game: available by logging onto: https://tickets.gohawks.ca/

The Riverhawks are encouraging fans to bring donations to the game to help support the Edmonton Food Bank.

After Saturday’s game, the teams will head to Joe Martin Field In Bellingham for games two and three on Sunday (Aug 11) and Monday (Aug 12).  The opening pitch on both nights will be 7:35 PM MST.

You can watch those games free on West Coast League TV (https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv).