By Cody F. Schmidt

The Edmonton Riverhawks were silent through the first two thirds of tonight’s game against the Victoria HarbourCats, and while they came alive late, it wasn’t enough to power past the four-run 5th that Victoria capped off with a homer.

It took until the 8th inning for the Riverhawks to get on the board, not only in the runs column but for the Hawks’ first hit too. After 7 innings seeing just a pair of walks and a hit batter, #12 Rex Watson led off the 8th with a single to right, finally seeing an Edmonton ball hit grass. #26 Russell Young followed Watson onto the base paths via a walk, and both runners moved up on a #51 Royce Hale groundout. Thanks to a wild pitch and an E2, both runners were able to dash home and prevent the shutout. This keeps Edmonton as the only team in the league to score at least one run in every single game played so far this season.

Making his first start of the season after 11.1 innings of relief, #18 Riley Barrett was in immediate trouble. A hit batter, walk, and single loaded the bags with no outs, but heads up baseball prevailed as the Riverhawks prevented any 1st inning runs. Nakao made a quick decision on a one-hopper to throw home and get a force play at the plate to prevent a run, then Dunn caught a fly in right and gunned a throw in to Young with plenty of time to tag out the runner for a double play. While Barrett’s 2nd included another single and an error, he held the Cats scoreless through the 3rd. Barrett faced another bases-loaded-no-outs situation in the 4th after a trio of singles, including a pair of bunts. Barrett didn’t get out of the frame as luckily this time, as after striking out a batter the Cats finally scored on a sac fly. Into another situation with runners on and no outs in the 5th, Barrett was removed after a walk and a double.

#43 Rory Lampe was the relief pitcher, inheriting a pair of runners in scoring position. A sac fly brought the first one home, then a two-run homer opened up the game for the HarbourCats. That homer would include Rory Lampe’s first earned run of the season, and sadly he would give up his second a few batters later as he walked a batter who stole second, then a two-out double brought the new runner home. The third Hawks pitcher of the 5th, #2 Austin Egan took over from Lampe after the double, and he was able to stop the inning by striking out his only batter of the frame. Egan tossed a solid 6th, only walking a single batter. An amazing 7th was thrown by #24 Reece Devlin, striking out the side to completely quiet the HarbourCats. Devlin padded his strikeout total in the 8th by adding on another two ꓘs, and the only runner he allowed via a walk was quickly erased being caught stealing.

The season-ending road trip continues tomorrow night with the Hawks facing Victoria again. The Edmonton squad will dip down to Washington to face the Port Angeles Lefties over the weekend, then finish the season in Nanaimo with the last series running Monday through Wednesday. The Riverhawks are still in the playoff hunt, as they are competing with all three teams they play, along with the Bells for the last three slots in the postseason. Keep your eye on gohawks.ca for all the latest news as soon as it’s posted!