By Cody Schmidt

A huge 9th inning victory last night got the Edmonton Riverhawks one step closer to the WCL playoffs in their first season on the field. Another win against the Victoria HarbourCats would secure a place in the postseason for Edmonton. The Hawks have managed to keep steady against the Wenatchee AppleSox, and stay tied atop the second-half standings, If the Hawks are able to win out and the Sox drop a spot, then Edmonton would hold the second half title and be granted the second seed. If the Hawks win one of two games and the AppleSox win both, or if the teams both sweep their series and stay tied then the AppleSox will stand as the second seed. If they don’t win the second half then the Hawks just need to stay afloat via the overall standings. Their magic number for that feat is 1, as if they can put one more win on the board, then the HarbourCats have no chance of catching up to the Hawks as Victoria currently sits 1.5 games behind Edmonton in 5th place. With plenty of seeds they could get placed at, the Hawks just need to win again to know that they’re in for sure.

The Hawks will be able to put some faith behind their bats, as they lit up for 4 straight scoring innings to start last night’s game, then had a huge comeback rally in the 9th to push past the tie. Clayton Loranger led the team, both in the order and with his bat, going 3-for-4 on the night with a double and a HBP. Following close behind were Jack Gurevitch and Mark Ossanna who earned 2 RBI each, and helped pile on the runs.

Staring for the Hawks is Brandon Loeppkey, making his first start of the season, normally operating out of the bullpen. Last appearing on Thursday against the Lefties, Loeppkey likely won't be pushed too far tonight as the arm barn will be relied on all game

1- #10 Clayton Loranger - LF

2- #26 Kelly Corl - SS

3- #25 Tom Poole - RF

4- #17 Emiliano Gonzalez - C

5- #33 Alex Stinnett - DH

6- #38 Jack Gurevitch - 3B

7- #24 Will Gardner - 2B

8- #28 Mark Ossanna - 1B

9- #3 Aaron Stinnett - CF

P- #27 Brendan Loeppky

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.