Hawks Bounce Back to Secure Road Series Against Bellingham

2025-07-09

Hawks pick up a 5-4 win thanks to an 8th inning rally

By Cody F. Schmidt

An eventful night at Joe Martin Field, as the Edmonton Riverhawks were able to have a late inning surge and score a trio of runs against the Bellingham Bells in the 8th. The win secures the final of three series between these two teams, and evens the season record to 4-4 with the Bells taking the prior two sets played in Edmonton. The Hawks now sit at 18-13 on the season and 4-1 in the second half.

The Hawks tied the game up after leading off the 3rd with a first pitch single by #42 Drew Veatch. As the lineup flipped over Veatch would steal second before a single by #48 Max Stagg would combine with a Bellingham E5 and let Drew come home to score for an early 1-1 score. That score wouldn’t stay tied for long as on the first pitch of the 4th #32 Jason Green would smash a solo home run, his fourth of the season.

Coming alive again in the 8th after being held quiet for three innings, the Hawks got a leadoff walk from #1 Shiryu Sato, then back-to-back singles from Stagg and #35 Trent Lenihan loaded the bases. A walk to #36 Mitchell Middlemiss gave the Riverhawks a free run, and Stagg would score while a double play happened to tie the game up. A double to the wall from #13 Grant Yzermans would be enough to give Edmonton the lead as Lenihan ran home on the RBI two-bagger.

Starter #8 Matthew Ridsdale was unfortunately burned by a wild pitch in the 1st inning, that would allow the leading runner from a pair of singles to score from third. The good news is that a savvy toss from foul territory by Lenihan would double off the runner and it would be the only solid scoring chance Bellingham saw until the 3rd. A pair of walks and a wild pitch would put Ridsdale in a one-out jam with a pair in scoring position. Another double play, this time a 6-3 would prevent the Bells from adding on. More troubles in the 4th followed as a walk would get moved around to third on ground outs, then a wild pitch would let the runner score and tie the game without Bellingham yet having a pitch in the inning. Ridsdale would pitch just those 4.0 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and 3 hits, along with 5 walks and no Ks.

#18 Mason Chamberlain was the first arm out of the pen for Edmonton, and he was stung similarly to Ridsdale. A four-pitch walk to his first batter was followed by a pair of wild pitches that allowed for an easy run to score on a groundout in the 5th. Then came #33 George Naramore who was the pitcher for the 6th. He avoided giving up a homer, but the ball wouldbounce off the wall and end up as a triple to lead off the frame. The bases would get loaded from a walk and a HBP before a sac fly gave the Bells another run in Naramore’s only inning of work. #27 Mitchell Heinrich would toss the 7th and be the first Edmonton pitcher to not allow a run in the game, as well as the first one to toss a strikeout. Working with a newfound lead, #40 Rece Allensworth would be assigned the 8th and have a efficient inning, retiring the Bells in order. It was #14 Tate Dearing’s 9th, and he took just seven pitches to secure the win and his sixth save of the season!

The Hawks return home to RE/MAX Field on July 18th with Star Wars Night! Wearing themed jerseys that will be auctioned off to support the Edmonton Space and Science Centre. And that’s on top of the usual Fireworks Friday with Uncle John’s Fireworks!

Head over to tickets.gohawks.ca to grab 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.

Photo credit - Bellingham Bells