By Larry Read

The Edmonton Riverhawks have won their first ever West Coast League playoff game. Playing before 7,843 fans at RE/MAX Field, The Riverhawks rebounded from a 1-0 deficit to down the visiting Bellingham Bells 3-1. Edmonton leads the best of three first round series 1-0.

The Riverhawks scored one run in the fourth inning and added two more in the sixth inning. They got a solid pitching performance from Edmonton local #33 Halen Knoll. The WCL North Division all-star went seven innings striking out three, giving up a run and walking one.

#15 Tylor Jans came on in the ninth inning and got the save. The Riverhawks used three pitchers in the ball game. Bellingham utilized four. Starter #14 Devyn Hernandez went four innings. He gave up six hits, a run and struck out five.

The winning and insurance runs for Edmonton came in the sixth inning. #51 Royce Hale singled and eventually scored on a fielding error by losing pitcher #19 Lane Simonson. That made the score 2-1. Hale was 2-4 in the ball game. Simonson pitched only one in and had both runs charged to him.

#26 Russell Young singled and scored on an error from Bells right fielder #27 Logan Degroot. Young was 3-4 with a run scored and a run batted in.

#36 Jakob Poturnak and #25 Trey Young were both 2-4.

Bellingham’s offense was led by #6 Anthony Kodama. He was 2-4. Degroot was 2-2 with a run scored while #4 Jason Shedlock was 1-4 with an RBI.

The Bells and Riverhawks will hop charter flights and head for Washington State for the remainder of this series which resumes tomorrow (Sat Aug 11). Game three of the best of three if needed would be Monday (Aug 12). Both those games have 7:35 PM MST opening pitch times. You can follow all Riverhawks away action at @RiverhawksGames or WCL Live and our YouTube channel.