Riverhawks Mount Late Comeback and Sweep Bells
2026-07-02
Thursday night walk off ends Hawks' first half in style
Box ScoreBy Larry Read
EDMONTON, AB—Jake Lanferman has 101 West Coast League victories on his resume. When he looks at them, none would likely compare with the dramatics of his latest win.
Lanferman’s Edmonton Riverhawks rallied from a four-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the five-time WCL champion Bellingham Bells 6-5 in 10 innings. The 3,946 fans left RE/MAX Field feeling they got their money’s worth and more.
Thursday’s (July 2) victory saw the Riverhawks win their seventh straight contest and put them two games ahead of the .500 mark. Edmonton is the hottest team in the WCL and have a 14-12 record. The Bells fall to 19-11 in this 2026 campaign.
Another streak that continued for the Riverhawks was their success wearing their green and brown “Edmonton River Valley Tree Huggers” uniforms in this one. As the “Tree Huggers’, they entered this contest unbeaten in two starts.
Edmonton rallied from a 4-0 deficit by scoring four times in the bottom of the ninth. That set up some dramatics in the 10th inning. Under WCL tie breaking rules, the team at bat starts with runners at first and second.
#57 Finnegan Stewart was the hero with a key hit with the bases loaded for the Edmonton victory.
“It was an incredible game,” said the Anaheim Hills, California resident. “Great comeback by us. This was a fight for sure. I thought we swung the bats well all game. We carried the momentum into the ninth inning.”
The Riverhawks scored six runs on 13 hits while committing two errors. Bellingham had five runs on eight hits with two errors.
“It never gets old (winning), especially the ‘walk offs’, said Lanferman afterwards.
The scoring began in the top of the third inning. Bellingham’s #20 Rashad Hayes got aboard on an error charged to Edmonton shortstop # 10 Cole Kriesel. Hayes crossed the plate two batters later thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of #7 Jaden Jackson. The Bells led 1-0.
They took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth. #2 Aspen Alexander led off with a single to left field. He scored from second when #14 Jake Lyall singled.
Riverhawks reliever #18 Owen Coombs came on to replace starter # 23 Derek DeVos in the seventh inning. Coombs gave up two runs as #19 Matt Churchill singled to center field to lead the inning off. Pinch runner #10 Dillon Moss will plate on and RBI single courtesy of Hayes. #6 Nate Johnson walked and was brought in on a sacrifice by #2 Aspen Alexander to give the Bells a 4-0 advantage.
The homeboys brought out the heroics in the bottom of the ninth. # 25 Matt Vanslykewalked and scored when Stewart took a #38 Thrasher Steed offering to right center field for an RBI double. Stewart would make it 4-2 when he scored on a sacrifice by #51 Easton Andrews. #24 Cale Clark singled up the middle and scored on a single off the bat of #39 Chris Parkin hit a liner to left field to cut the deficit to 1.
With two out, Riverhawks pinch hitter #1 Shiryu Sato blasted the ball into left field to score pinch runner #3 Devin Simonton from second base with the tying run and sent the game to extra innings deadlocked 4-4.
Bellingham took the lead in the 10th. Lyall singled off #7 Chris Massey scoring Alexander from second to make it 5-4.
In their half of the 10th, the Hawks got the fans excited. Vanslyke walked to load the bases (#36 Mitch Middlemiss and Sato were on first and second to start the inning). Clark went up the middle to score Sato to tie the contest. The next batter was Stewart who placed the ball in the area between first and second base in right field. That brought Middlemiss home for the winning run.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Stewart explained. “ I didn’t hit it super hard but I got the job done.”
“It was all the players,” stated Lanferman when asked about the turnaround. “They pushed hard to rally in the ninth to push it to extras. Then, Chris Massey comes in and gets two strikeouts to give us the opportunity to win. We were hitting all game long but didn’t have any luck.”
The Riverhawks were 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
Massey was the winning pitcher for Edmonton (1-1) as he got two strike outs in his inning of work. #1 Braden Blackwell (0-2) was the losing pitcher. He tossed two innings of two hit ball, surrendering a walk and two runs.
Stewart was 2 for 6 with 2 RBI and a run scored. Clark was 3 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI. Sato went 1 for 1 off the bench with a run scored and an RBI. Lyall was the top offensive player for Bellingham going 2 for 5 with two runs batted in.
Stewart feels this victory along with their current winning streak will set the Hawks up well for a second half run. “We were looking to get some momentum. By sweeping one of the best teams (Bellingham) is the best way to do it. We will hope to get a couple of wins down in Wenatchee.”
The Riverhawks boarded the bus after the contest and headed to Washington State. They meet the Apple Sox for a three game set beginning tomorrow (Friday, July 3).
This will be the third time the two teams have met this season. The Apple Sox captured the WCL North Division first half title beating Bellingham. Both teams finished the first half at 19-8 but Wenatchee captured the title based on their season series against the Bells. Edmonton is 12-16 lifetime versus Wenatchee and is 2-4 against the Apple Sox in 2026.
Bellingham will return home and host the Port Angeles Lefties starting tomorrow (July 3).
Next home game for the Riverhawks will be Tuesday, July 7th when the Nanaimo Night Owls pay a visit to RE/MAX Stadium. It is a 1:05 PM MDT start time for “Corporate Hookey: Office Olympics Edition!”.
EXTRA INNINGS: The Hawks debuted two new players in this one. Catcher # 53 Gialuca Montanaro (Belmont University-Aurora, ON) and Outfielder #20 Oliver Clemens (UBC-Vancouver, BC). Montanaro was 1-3 while Clemens was 0-3.