Berries Outgun Riverhawks in Game 2 of Series

2026-07-11

Marion evens out the series 12-8

By Larry Read

EDMONTON, AB—The Edmonton Riverhawks saw their three game West Coast League winning streak come to an end on Saturday (July 11), The Riverhawks dropped the second of a three-game weekend series 12-8 to the visiting Marion Berries. There were 5,064 people on hand for the contest at RE/MAX Field.

The Riverhawks saw their record slip to 18-16 on the season (and .500-4 and 4 for the second half). The Berries improve to 14-20 (now 2-6 in the WCL second half). Marion had 12 runs on 10 hits with an error. The home squad scored four runs on 12 hits and had five errors.

Edmonton wore their green clad “River Valley Tree Huggers” uniforms for this contest. This was the first loss of the season for them wearing the alternate jerseys.

Hawks catcher #32 Jason Green kicked off the bottom of the second inning with a double which hit the wall in right field. He opened the scoring for the Riverhawks/Tree Huggers when #51 Easton Andrews hit a ground ball to Berries third baseman # 15 Aukai Araujo-Waiau. His throw home was over the glove of Marion catcher # 11 Martin Serriano which allowed Green to score the games opening run.

Andrews would score on a sacrifice ground ball off the bat of #24 Cale Clark to make the score 2-0.

The Berries get on the board in the top of the third. #33 Colin Linteo gets aboard when his liner is bobbled by Riverhawks second baseman # 13 Jason Fox. Linteo will cross the plate when the next batter, # 40 Tyler Dunning hits a single to right field off Hawks starer # 49 Cole Huebner.

Marion took the lead in the fourth inning. # 20 Jake Dodge led it off with a single to right field. He scored two batters later when Araujo-Waiau ground out to Edmonton shortstop # 1 Shiryu Sato. The Berries went up 3-2 after #19 Kael Barney hit a triple to straight away center. They tried for an additional run when Barney tried to make it home after # 14 Noah Scharer sacrificed to right field. Riverhawks # 31 Kotaro Wakui gunned him down at the plate.

The Berries chalked up three more runs in the fifth. It was an inning where Marion sent nine men to the plate. Linteo and Dunning both walked off Riverhawks reliever # 7 Jack Becker. They both scored when Dodge hit a ground ball to Hawks first baseman # 48 Max Stagg. Stagg bobbled it. Becker lasted only two thirds on an inning before being replaced by #14 Nathan Ling. Ling faced Araujo-Waiau who drove it to right field where Wakui couldn’t hold onto the ball allowing Dodge to cross the plate and make it 6-2 for the visitors.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Riverhawks loaded the bases off Marion reliever # 2 Taylor Werth. With one out, Wakui walked to bring in Fox from third base but couldn’t reduce their deficit to less than three (6-3).

Marion enlarged their lead in the top of the eighth. Leadoff man Scharer walked. Two outs later, he scored from third on a wild pitch. They added two more runs on a fielding error to go up by six runs 9-3.

The bottom half of that inning saw the Riverhawks score again. Clark led off the inning with a single to left field and scored on an RBI single to right field by Stagg. But Edmonton could draw no closer.

The Berries added three more in the top of the ninth. They loaded the bases and with two out, #7 Matthew Major pounded a hit off Hawks reliever # 11 Brandon Craven to the wall in straight away centerfield. That scored three runs to put Marion up by eight (12-8). Major was 2 for 6 with a run scored and three runs batted in to lead the Berries offense. Araujo-Waiau was one for five with two RBI.

For Edmonton: Clark was 3 for 4 with a run scored and a run batted in. Green went 1 for 5 with a run scored. Wakui was 1 for 4 with an RBI.

The Riverhawks and Berries will wind up their three-game set tomorrow afternoon (Sun July 12) at RE/MAX Field with a 1:05 PM MDT opening pitch.

It will be the final game for both squads before the West Coast League all-star break. The home run derby will go July 14th, with the game itself set for July 15th at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria.

EXTRA INNINGS: The Riverhawks utilized seven pitchers in the contest including two who made their West Coast League debuts: # 51Adrian Blanchet (RHP, Irvine, CA) and #42 Kael Poland (LHP, Uhrichsville, OH).