A Shutout Ends Series in Bellingham

2025-07-10

The Bells beat the Hawks 3-0 to finish the season matchup between the two teams

By Larry Read

BELLINGHAM, WA—

The Edmonton Riverhawks saw their three game winning streak come to an end Thursday in Bellingham. The Bells upended the Riverhawks 3-0 to take the third and final game of their West Coast League series. Edmonton had won the first two games of this set. Bellingham improved to 4-5 in the WCL North Division second half standings. The Riverhawks fall to 4-2.

Things started positively for the Riverhawks. In the top of the first, #13 Grant Yzermans walked with one out and advanced to third on a single from the bat of #36 Mitchell Middlemiss. Middlemiss then moved to second base when the next batter, #32 Jason Green walked. Unfortunately, the Riverhawks couldn’t push any runs across. Middlemiss and #50 Chavis Conceicao were both 1 for 4 offensively for Edmonton.

The Bells opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. # 31 Logan Degroot led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third when #9 Aiden Aguayo doubled to left field. #16 Brock Sell ground out but pushed Degroot across the plate to make it 1-0. #22 Rob Jacobson followed Sell to the dish and ground out to Riverhawks second baseman #5 Anthony Kodama. But Aguayo scored to make it 2-0.

Bellingham scored their other run in the bottom of the 8th. #11 Nate Kirkpatrick walked and scored on a single by Degroot.

The Bells were led offensively by Jacobson and #24 Nico Azpilcuetza. Both were 1 for 4. Degroot was 1 for 3 with a run batted in and a run scored.

#17 Cal Young was the starting pitcher for Bellingham. He went 4.0 innings, giving up 2 runs while striking out 8 and walking 2 while facing 16 batters. Young was replaced by # 30 Ty Van Dyke who got the win. Van Dyke is 2-0 on the year. He worked 4.0 innings striking out 4, walking 1 and giving up 1 hit. #28 Colt Peterson came on for the ninth inning and got the save striking out one. This was Peterson’s second save of 2025.

#34 Jesse Kaphing started and went five innings while being tagged with the loss. Kaphing, the first of three Edmonton pitchers, gave up two runs on five hits, striking out six and walking two while facing 23 batters. Kaphing is 0-2 in his six starts this season.

The Bells and Riverhawks finish their 2025 regular season games against each other. Bellingham won five times while Edmonton took four.

“They had some good arms throwing tonight,’ stated Riverhawks head coach Jake Lanferman. “We struggled to make an adjustment at the plate. Our pitchers did a great job in this series keeping us in games. Bellingham is a tough environment. I am proud of our guys for pulling out a series win-hopefully we can take that momentum to Port Angeles and go into the All-Star game on a high note.”

Port Angeles will be the venue for the final three games for the Riverhawks road trip. Games begin tomorrow through to Sunday (July 10-13) against the Lefties. The Riverhawks are 2-1 against the Lefties in 2025 and 17-4 all-time against them.

The Lefties had tonight off after losing to Victoria at home 9-4 on Wednesday (July 9). Port Angeles has a 1-5 record in their last 10 starts.

The next three are the final games for Edmonton prior to the 2025 West Coast League All Star Game will be played at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham on Wednesday, July 16th.

The Riverhawks don’t have a home game until Friday July 18th when they open up a three-game set against the Kamloops NorthPaws. It will be Star Wars Night! Blast off to a galaxy far, far away as the ballpark transforms into a Star Wars spectacular!

Join the Riverhawks for lightsaber training, character meet-and-greets, and a ceremonial first pitch from a real-life astronaut. The Force (and fun) will be strong all night long!

Keep an eye out for our limited-edition Riverhawks Star Wars jerseys—worn on-field and then up for grabs in a charity auction supporting the Edmonton Space & Science Foundation which operates TELUS World of Science- Edmonton. Weekly Promo: Firework Friday w/ Uncle John’s Fireworks!

Head over to tickets.gohawks.ca to grab 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.

Photo Credit - Bellingham Bells