Edmonton’s 2026 Season Ends on a Loss to Bellingham

2026-08-05

Three Bellingham homers seal the Hawks’ fate

By Cody F. Schmidt

The Edmonton Riverhawks finish their 2026 WCL season just shy of making their third playoff appearance as they were shut out by the Bellingham Bells. In the regular season finisher, the Hawks didn’t have any rallies in their pockets as they consistently got runners on base but couldn’t cash them in until the very end of the game.

A big part of the Edmonton Riverhawks’ fate laid in their own hands tonight, as they needed a win to stay in the mix for a playoff position. Taking on the Bellingham Bells in the final game of the regular season, the Hawks had split the series entering today’s game and also needed one of Kelowna or Nanaimo to lose in order to earn a postseason berth. Unfortunately for the Riverhawks, neither scenario arose as both the Falcons and the NightOwls look to be victorious while the Riverhawks were not.

There was no overwhelming fault in the Riverhawks’ approach tonight, just a consecutive set of bad luck with runners in scoring position. Before the 9th they were only batting 1-for-13 with batters on base, and unable to get any hits with runners in scoring position.

Starter #4 Cole Huebner watched the top of the lineup go down in order before he took his turn on the mound. Huebner retired his first two batters with minimal effort required, but the Bells had an impact moment as Noah Cassie hit a solo home run on a 1-0 count to put Bellingham in the lead. While the Hawks only managed to strand #51 Easton Andrews in the 2nd after he walked, Bellingham kept the offence up in their half. A pair of singles and a fielder’s choice led to the Bells having runners on the corners against Huebner, then an Edmonton E5 let another Bells run in. Thanks to a grounder to third, neither runner could advance, then a fly ball skied to right stopped Bellingham from plating any more runners in the 2nd.

#4 Aden Munoz was hit with a pitch to lead off the 3rd, and he promptly moved to third on back-to-back steals. #3 Devin Simonton then was walked before #13 Jaxon Fox purposefully bunted to first in order to move Devin into scoring position. Edmonton would leave those runners stranded, as a K and a fly out to deep centre cut off the chance at a tie.

Huebner earned his second strikeout of the game to kick off the bottom of the 3rd, catching the batter looking. After an easy grounder, Cole saw a hit and a steal before retiring the side with another infield grounder. In the 4th, #36 Mitchell Middlemiss knocked a single up the middle to reach base, then move to second on a wild pitch. An infield fly and a chopper to first once again stranded the tying pair on base as the game moved to the bottom of the 4th. Thankfully, Huebner retired the side in just four pitches, swiftly getting the Hawks back to the batters box.

A two out single from #23 Justin Heffler was followed by a #58 Omar Gonzalez base hit to put runners on the corners. But a deep fly to the wall spoiled the opportunity as the Hawks stranded a pair for the third inning in a row. Huebner continued his solid start as he once again retired the side in order in the bottom of the 5th, with the only extended at bat being his third strikeout of the game. After retiring his first batter of the 6th, Huebner gave up a single to centre and finished his start at 5.1 IP, with three strikeouts and six hits allowed.

Taking over with a runner on first was #34 Bryce Intagliata, who needed just a single pitch to induce a 6-4-3 double play and finish the frame. The Bells got a four-pitch walk from Intagliata, which then came to bite the Hawks’ lefty, as Bellingham sac bunted to move the runner over and then singled to put players on the corners. Making the Bells’ lead even larger, Noah Cassie hit another home run to plate three. In turn, the Riverhawks got retired in order in the 8th, their first inning since the 1st inning to not have a runner on base.

#33 Logan Colville came out in the bottom of the 8th and started with a relatively simple ground out to third, but Bellingham took off again with their third home run of the game. After the solo shot the Bells kept things going with a double, but a dive from #58 Omar Gonzalez stopped the next batted ball from reaching the outfield and causing further damage.

The 9th had a bit of life with Munoz legging out a 9th inning double off a hit into right-centre. The one-out knock was followed by a walk to pinch hitter #19 Luke Krull while Munoz stole third. Pinch runner #5 Simon Virostek replaced Krull, before Fox would slap a ball into the shallow outfield and give the Riverhawks their first run of the game. A wild pitch followed as the runners were both able to advance into scoring position, a groundout from Heffler was enough to plate Virostek. Unfortunately the next at bat finished with a called strikeout, and the Hawks’ season was over.

The Edmonton Riverhawks will be back at RE/MAX field for the 2027 WCL season, and we can’t wait to see you there! Keep your eyes on gohawks.ca and @EDMRiverhawks for all the offseason updates!

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