HarbourCats Sweep Riverhawks In Extras

2024-08-01

Hawks held the early lead, but Victoria prevailed 6-5 in the 11th

By Larry Read

Weird is the best way to describe what happened in the West Coast League game Thursday night (Aug 1) at Wilson’s Group Stadium in Victoria. On the scoreboard, the host HarbourCats beat the visiting Edmonton Riverhawks 6-5 in 11 innings.

The extra innings wasn’t unusual. What was were that there were 10 errors committed in the contest (six by the Riverhawks). Add to that, how the game was decided.

The winning run came in the bottom of the 11th when Riverhawks reliever #56 Zac Foden struck Victoria’s #47 Ryan Deagle. Deagle had entered the game a couple of innings earlier as a pinch hitter. The hit pitch came with the bases loaded which brought in # 25 Kevin Orcevic from 3rd base for the winning run. Added to the oddity was a delay in the 8th inning when umpire Harrison Young had to leave after being hit by a foul ball. That left Matthies Smith and Scott Eckert to operate a ‘two man” system.

This was a costly loss in the grand scheme of things for the Riverhawks. They and Victoria are battling for playoff position. Thursday’s win gave the HarbourCats the season series 5-4 and gave them a tie breaker if that is needed for playoff positioning. Victoria moves to 27-21 on the year while Edmonton falls to 27-20.

Offensively for Edmonton: #51 Royce Hale was 1-4 with 2 RBI including a solo homer to left field in a three run ninth inning to tie the game at 5. #1 Kaden Zarowny was 2-5 with a run scored and an RBI. #12 Rex Watson was 1-5 with an RBI and run scored.

Victoria’s offense was led by #4 Tyrus Hall who was 2-5 with a run scored. Reliever #18 Flynn Ridley was the winner. He made his ninth appearance of the year going two and a third innings giving up two hits and striking out three. He is 4-0 on the year. Foden was the losing pitcher for Edmonton. In only his second appearance: he gave up a run, and a hit in one inning and fell to 0-1.

The Riverhawks will continue their West Coast road trip as they move into Civic Field in Port Angeles where they will meet the Lefties for three games starting tomorrow. Edmonton is unbeaten in three starts this season against Port Angeles. The Riverhawks close out the 2024 WCL regular season with games Aug 5-7th at Serauxmen Stadium in Nanaimo against the NightOwls.