Hawks Head Home With A Game 1 Victory

2025-08-08

Reece Hemmerling's complete game win gives the Hawks the edge in round 1

By Larry Read

VICTORIA, BC—

The Edmonton Riverhawks have drawn first blood in their 2025 West Coast League North Division semifinal. The Riverhawks came away with a 6-1 victory over the host Victoria HarbourCats on Friday night.

Edmonton got a complete game victory from #20 Reece Hemmerling. The Beaumont, Alberta resident gave up one run on four hits, while striking out five and walking one. Hemmerling faced 32 batters.

The only run Hemmerling gave up was a solo home run off the bat of HarbourCats #3 Kamana Nahaku in the bottom of the 9th inning. Nahaku was two for four in the ball game for Victoria.

Edmonton opened the scoring in the top of the second inning. #32 Jason Green led off the inning with a single and scored on an RBI single off from # 5 Anthony Kodama. They added a second run in that inning as #36 Mitchell Middlemiss was hit by a pitch and plated on an RBI single from #12 Stevie Waters.

The Riverhawks scored twice in that 2nd inning and added a single run in the 3rd, two more runs in the 5th and one more in the 6th. They wound up with six runs on ten hits. Victoria had one run on four hits and one error.

The lone run in the 3rd inning was a lead off homer from #35 Trent Lenihan. Lenihan, one of the Riverhawks’ captains, went three for five with two runs scored and an RBI.

Waters was 1-3 with a run batted in. Green was 2-4 with two runs scored while #48 Max Stagg was 1-3 with a run scored.

Other players of note offensively for Victoria were #6 Tristan Buehring and #18 Dillon Lopez. Both were 1-4.

The HarbourCats utilized four pitchers in the ball game. Starter #40 Steve Lake was tagged with the loss. He went four innings, surrendering three runs on six hits, striking out three and walking two.

Both teams hopped a jet after the contest and headed to Edmonton where the remainder of this series will take place. Game two is set for Saturday at RE/MAX Field. Opening pitch is 7:05 PM MDT.

The Riverhawks will send #31 Riley Barrett to the mound against Victoria’s #41 Ryne Palmer. Palmer had a 1-1 record during the regular season, appearing in five games while starting two of them. He pitched 13.2 innings, striking out 16, walking eight and had an earned run average of 4.61. Barrett was 4-0 this season with a 2.97 E.R.A, striking out 26 and walking four in 36.1 innings pitched.

There will be a fireworks presentation following Saturday’s game. The musical guests will be The Bastactics.

Should a third deciding game be required, it would be played at RE/MAX Field on Sunday at 1:05 PM MDT.

Looking for tickets in advance? Go to tickets.gohawks.ca to secure yourself a seat. Follow along with the game at @RiverhawksGames on X and keep up with everything happening with the Hawks on Instagram, Facebook, @EdmRiverhawks, and TikTok. See all the latest news at riverhawksbaseball.com.

If you are unable to cheer on the Riverhawks live, you can watch the contest free on West Coast League TV (https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv).

Scores from the first games of the other West Coast League opening round series on Friday:

Bellingham Bells 7 - Wenatchee Apple Sox 6 - played at Paul Thomas Field at Wenatchee Valley Community College.

In the South Division:

Bend Elks 7 - Corvallis Knights 5 - at Vince Genna Stadium in Bend, Oregon

Portland Pickles 4 - Marion Berries 3 - at Chemcheta Ball Field in Marion, Oregon.