Hawks Split Double Header with HarbourCats in Victoria

2025-08-04

Edmonton wins game 1 10-1, but drops game 2 5-7

By Larry Read

VICTORIA, BC--

The Edmonton Riverhawks and Victoria HarbourCats began a crucial four game series as the 2025 West Coast League regular season came to a close. The two teams are jockeying for playoff positions.

They opened things up with a pair of seven-inning games at Wilson’s Group Stadium on the holiday Monday (BC Day in British Columbia/Heritage Day in Alberta). The first game was a replay of a contest that was slated for June 26, but was rained out.

Both teams were 18-6 in the WCL North Division second half standings. That was good enough for a tie for first place. The Riverhawks also owned a game and a half lead over the Bellingham Bells in the overall North Division standings. Edmonton at 32-18. Bellingham at 31-20 with Victoria third, two games back at 30-20.

Game One: Riverhawks 10 HarbourCats 1

The Riverhawks notched their franchise best seventh consecutive victory. They scored 10 runs on eight hits. The HarbourCats got one run on six hits and committed two errors.

Edmonton scored five times in the third inning and added four runs in the fourth and one in the sixth. #32 Jason Green continued his hot hitting with a three-run homer in the fourth inning. Green has nine homers on the year. He wound up going 2-4 with a run scored and three RBI.

#12 Stevie Waters was 1-3 with two runs batted in. #48 Max Stagg was 2-2 with three runs scored. #16 Kyle Yip and # 1 Shiryu Sato were both 1-3 with a run scored. Yip added a run batted in. #35 Trent Lenihan was 0-2 with two runs batted in.

# 21 Myles Chamberlain won his West Coast League leading seventh win of the season going six innings. He gave up a run on six hits, struck out four and walked two while facing 26 batters. #52 Lucas Webber-Kitching came on to pitch the seventh inning for the Riverhawks.

#36 Clayton Broeder started for Victoria and was tagged with the loss. He went two and a third innings, giving up three runs on one hit, striking out six and walking five while facing 14 batters. The biggest threat offensively for the HarbourCats was #22 Jake Butler who was 1-3 with a run batted in.

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Game Two: HarbourCats 7 Riverhawks 5

Edmonton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after half an inning, one of those runs was a solo homer to start the game courtesy of #1 Shiryu Sato. Victoria scored one of their own in the bottom of the first, tied the game in the bottom of the third and went ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth. The Riverhawks drew even at 3 in the top of the fifth and went up 5-3 in the top of the sixth. But the HarbourCats scored four times on three hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to secure the victory and split the doubleheader.

Victoria had seven runs on 10 hits and one error while Edmonton had five runs on six hits.

The HarbourCats were led offensively by #3 Kamana Nahaku who went 2-3 with two runs batted in and a run scored. #16 Garrett Brooks was 11-3 with two runs batted in which came on a single in the bottom of the sixth. #5 Tanner Beltkowski was 1-1 with two runs scored and a run batted in.

The Riverhawks main offensive weapon was Sato who was3-4 with three runs scored and two runs batted in. #16 Kyle Yip was 2-4 with a run batted in. #27 Mitchell Heinrich was the second of three Edmonton pitchers in this contest. He saw his record dip to 2-2 as he went an inning and a third, surrendering three runs on one hit and walking three. He faced eight batters.

The third of three HarbourCats pitchers-#9 Austin Lindsey went an inning and two thirds to earn the victory and square his record at 1-1. He gave up two hits, gave up a run and struck out one while facing six batters.

The HarbourCats moved to 31-21 on the year while the Riverhawks fall to 33-19. Both teams are now 19-7 in the second half of the WCL season and remain tied atop of the divisional standings.

These two teams will be back at it Tuesday at Wilson’s Group Stadium. Opening pitch will be 7:35PM MDT. You can watch the contest free on West Coast League TV (https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv). The four and final game of this series and the 2025 regular season is slated for Wednesday.

The 2025 best of three WCL first round playoffs begin Friday August 8th.