By Cody Schmidt

The final series in the Edmonton Riverhawks’ inaugural season begins in Victoria. Having seen the HarbourCats at RE/MAX Field just two weeks ago, the Riverhawks picked up two wins in the series. With the road series starting, Edmonton will looking to accomplish the same result as whichever of the two teams can win this series will guarantee a playoff spot.

The HarbourCats are .5 wins behind the Riverhawks in both the second half standings and the overall records. With such a close divide, wins in this series are crucial. If the Hawks can get two wins this series they’ll be assured a place anywhere in the playoffs, as they would knock the HarbourCats out of the top four placements in the overall standings. Of course, a pair of wins could also secure the Hawks the #2 seed in the division, if they’re able to pull ahead of the Wenatchee Apple Sox. The Hawks and the Sox have been in lock step late in this season, and a tied record would go Wenatchee’s way as they have the season series win between the two teams. Losing the series wouldn’t necessarily kill the Hawks’ chances at playoffs, but they’d be entirely dependant on how Wenatchee and Kamloops perform over the weekend.

With a lot to play for, the Hawks will put their faith behind starter KJ Ward. KJ has had two fantastic appearances in his last starts, combining for 12 innings of 1 run ball. Pitching 5 innings against the HarbourCats in July, KJ struck out 4 and held off the Victoria squad for what would end up being a 9-1 Riverhawks win.

Your Riverhawks lineup tonight:

1- #10 Clayton Loranger

2- #26 Kelly Corl

3- #25 Tom Poole

4- #17 Emiliano Gonzalez

5- #33 Alex Stinnett

6- #38 Jack Gurevitch

7- #24 Will Gardner

8- #28 Mark Ossanna

9- #3 Aaron Stinnett

P- #45 KJ Ward

As always, you can keep up to date with the game by following @RiverhawksGames on Twitter, and checking back here at riverhawksbaseball.com for a post-game recap. Peep the team on Instagram and Twitter at @edmRiverhawks.

You can watch tonight’s game via the HarbourCats on YouTube.