Riverhawks Open Final Homestand With Victory Over Falcons
2026-07-24
5-1 win puts the Hawks in a solid playoff stronghold
Box ScoreBy Larry Read
EDMONTON, AB—The Edmonton Riverhawks opened up their final three game West Coast League homestand of the 2026 regular season in a big way. The Riverhawks won their 16th home game of the year at RE/MAX field. The Hawks took the Kelowna Falcons 5-1 in the beginning of a key series. Both the Falcons and the Riverhawks are among the teams battling for the final two playoff spots in the WCL North Division. There were 8,188 fans on hand for the Friday night (July 24), as the Riverhawks move closer to matching their league record attendance figure (131,966) that they set last year. Attendance on this night brought the Riverhawks 2026 total to 131,629.
The Riverhawks are now 23-20 on the season. The Falcons fall to 25-17. Edmonton scored five runs on 12 hits. Kelowna scored once on seven hits. There were no errors in the ball game.
“That’s a huge win for us,” said Riverhawks assistant coach Levi Moon. “Chasing Kelowna and trying to win the second half. We’ve got five games with Kelowna left in the season. Getting the first one out of the way and getting the win was big.”
The Riverhawks got on the ‘sticks’ early. Bottom of the first, after #13 Jaxon Fox walked and #25 Matt VanSlyke doubled, #53 Gianluca Montanaro hit a Falcons starter# 54 Jacob Beaujoin offering deep down the left field line plating both Fox and Van Slyke to give the home team a 2-0 lead. After Beaujoin loaded the bases on three straight walks: both #32 Jason Green and #33 Mitchell Middlemiss both scored. Both had singled earlier. Edmonton sent nine men to the plate in that first inning and led 4-0. Baurdoin fell to to 2 and 1 as he was deemed the losing pitcher. His three innings of work resulted in four runs on six hits, four walks and three strikeouts.
Moon felt Edmonton got timely hitting –which has been one of the undlying strengths of the team this summer and was something lacking in their last game (a 15-2 loss to Kamloops). “We didn’t have the best start last game. That was what the coaching staff told the players tonight that we needed a good start. Putting up the four runs in the first inning was huge especially after that loss Wednesday.”
Edmonton starter #41 Trey Nance, who committed earlier this week to NCAA Div 1 University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, had a no hitter going for five innings. He gave up a single to Falcons #6 Cade Burnham to begin the sixth inning. Burnham sent the first pitch he saw straight up the middle. Nance was the winning pitcher as he went eight and a third innings, giving up a run on six hits. He struck out six to improve to 3 and 1 on the season.
“Throwing up the zone and relying on my defence,” Nance, the 6.0” right hander said were the keys to the win.
“This was the highlight for me,” he continued. “Coming out of the bullpen to start and playing before the large crowds has been a pleasure.” He added his fastball and cutter were working very well on this night. “ I had a curve ball going here and there. I kept trying to get it into the zone. I was using it as a reset pitch to get them (the hitters) off balance.”
“He was unbelievable tonight,”Moon said of Nance. “Especially in summer ball where you want to keep pitch counts low and not trying to ride guys into the ground. To keep a guy under 100 pitches and still have an opportunity to get a complete game shutout-that speaks volumes to what he did tonight and how he threw the ball. “
Moon gave credit to the Edmonton fans for giving Nance a standing ovation when he was removed from the contest.
The Riverhawks took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. #19 Luke Krull singled as he hit the ball under the glove of Kelowna shortstop Burnham . He scored on an RBI single hit in the same area by Montanaro.
The Falcons scored in the top of the ninth inning. #4 Boogie McNeal doubled deep into right field and scored when #26 Xander Sielken singled up the middle. That did it for Nance. He was replaced by # 19 Bryce Intagliata. Instagalia, from Mesquite, Nevada pitched two thirds on an inning facing three batters.
Offensively, Edmonton was led by Montanario who went 2 for 5 with three runs batted in. Middlemiss was 3 for four a run scored. Krull went 2 for 2 with a run scored and an RBI.
The Riverhawks and Falcons will play game two of their series tomorrow night (July 25th) at RE/MAX Field with 7:05 PM MDT start time. The Riverhawks will start #54 Sam Wyrick of Jefferson City, MO (1-0).
“Its his last start for us, “stated Moon. “He has to head back to school. He has been outstanding this year making three starts without giving up an earned run. We are looking for another quality start out of him. Hopefully, the game ends similar to tonight. We need to win this series.”
The promotional theme will be: “ Wizards, Wands & Magic”.
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.
EXTRA INNINGS: Nance on how his Riverhawk teammates were reacting to his performance between innings. Did they leave him alone? “On the field-leave me alone. But in the dugout, I kind of like to reset, talk to people and cheer on my teammates. Right before I go out, I catch a breath.”