By Cody F. Schmidt

It was a perfect Sunday at the ballpark as the Edmonton Riverhawks finished off their last home stand of the season against the Wenatchee AppleSox with a 4-2 win! With today’s win the Hawks hold a 17-10 home record at RE/MAX Field, their best ever result at home. Along with the best year at home yet, the Riverhawks also broke their own record for attendance. After 7059 fans came through the doors today, the Hawks finished the year with 116,871 attendees and once again hold the West Coast League single-season attendance record.

A litany of singles got the Riverhawks on the scoreboard in the 2nd inning, as the Hawks batters hit five in a row to plate a trio of runs, then used a couple sacrifices to get the fourth across. There were singles from #35 Trent Lenihan, #47 Will Vasseur, #12 Rex Watson, #9 Mahidutt Tabata, and #11 Carlos Hernendez that were followed by a sac bunt by #6 Taichi Nakao, and a sac fly from #54 Sam Kane.

Even though the Hawks at the plate couldn’t add on any more runs, they still had a very productive day at bat. Kane, Vasseur, Hernandez, and Watson all had a multi-hit game, while Nakao walked twice.

Making his sixth home start of the season, #33 Halen Knoll was in his usual form this afternoon. A walk and a steal went against Knoll for a 1st inning earned run, but he bounced back and shut down Wenatchee for his next five frames. Only allowing three hits in his 6.0 innings on the mound, it was a classic Knoll start, buoyed by three Ks. In the 7th #38 David Stuart tossed a stellar inning, with just one hit amongst three fast outs. In to start the 8th, #50 Brandon Brunette was unable to get any outs, instead having a run scored against him on a walk and two hits. #16 Tylor Jans took over with a pair of runners on, and after a double play tossed a strikeout looking to prevent any more Wenatchee runs. Back out for the 9th, Jans struck out a pair while securing the save and the series win.

While the Riverhawks don’t have any more games left at RE/MAX Field in the regular season, they still have three more series to go on the road. After a Monday off, the Hawks will play a midweek set against the HarbourCats in Victoria then head to Port Angeles to face the Lefties next weekend. The season wraps up as the Riverhawks move back into BC and see the Nanaimo NightOwls August 5-7. The Riverhawks haven’t clinched a playoff spot yet, but lots will happen in the next week and a half. Keep your eyes on gohawks.ca to see all the updates as the Hawks finish up the season with their eye on their first-ever playoff berth.