Hawks Take It Home Against Nanaimo

2026-07-09

Riverhawks take a 6-4 victory to claim series

By Larry Read

Riverhawks Communications

EDMONTON, AB—In what could be described as a “statement’ game, the Edmonton Riverhawks downed the Nanaimo NightOwls 6-4 in West Coast League action at RE/MAX Field on Thursday.

A crowd of 5,258 saw two teams battling in a group in the WCL North Division for the second half pennant. The victory was the second for Edmonton in three starts against Nanaimo as they improved to 17-15 on the season. The NightOwls drop to 19-17.

The Hawks scored six runs on nine hits. Nanaimo had four runs on nine hits with one error.

“We knew we had to win this series,” said designated hitter #32 Jason Green(Georgetown, ON). “They are ahead of us and a team we need to beat. I thought we came out hard. Their starter was really good but we stayed with our approach. We threw a lot of strikes. Overall, it was a great game for us.” Green was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in and a run scored.

The Riverhawks opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as leadoff man #39 Chris Parkin singled to left center field. He would later score after Green hit a gapper to left center. He would get to third on a fielder’s choice and then plate when #37 Connor Cavnar hit a hot shot to NightOwls shortstop #2 Ryder Florence. Edmonton was up 2-0.

Cavnar was 1 for 2 on the night for the Hawks with two runs batted in.

Nanaimo cut the deficit to a single run in the top of the fourth inning. With two out, #17 Malachi Noet launched a rocket over the left field wall to make it 2-1 on his first homer of the 2026 campaign. Noet was 1 for 4 with a run scored and one run batted in.

It didn’t take the Hawks long to restore their two-run advantage. In the bottom of that inning, leadoff hitter #57 Finnegan Stewart sent it to right center field. The ball squirted underneath Nanaimo right fielder # 23 Ethan Reynolds . Stewart wound up with a triple and consequently scored when Cavnar hit it to the NightOwls Florence who was charged with an error. 3-1 home side.

They upped lead in the bottom of the fifth. #31 Kotaro Wakui singled to center field. With two out, Green stepped into the batter’s box and delivered a shot which hit the wall in right field which scored Wakui. Green wound up with a double to give Edmonton a 4-1 advantage.

The bottom of the sixth saw #3 Devin Simontondraw a one out walk off NightOwls reliever #37 Cam Barrow. He made it to third when #19Luke Krull blasted a single down the right field line. After # 1 Shiryu Sato walked to load the bases, #48 Max Stagg wound up walking to bring in Simonton and increase the lead to 5-1. That did it for Barrows who was pulled in favor of # 41 Isaac Nieters. Nieters promptly got Wakui to fly out to right field which scored Krull. Edmonton 6 Nanaimo 1.

The NightOwls started the seventh inning out strong as they hit three consecutive singles off Riverhawks reliever # 35 Grant Belcher. They could only push one more run across as Florence scored when # 7 Aiden Nykoluk grounded into a double play. That cut the Riverhawks lead to 6-2.

Nanaimo didn’t fade away. In the ninth inning, they loaded the bases off Edmonton reliever # 40 Rece Allensworth. #3 Clark Springs singled to center field to bring in both Nykoluk and # 13 Francis Subero.

“I thought our pitchers were very resilient,’ assessed Riverhawks head coach Jake Lanferman. “ A lot of baserunners. They worked well getting ‘zeroes’ and minimizing when the damage was happening. Belcher had the bases loaded with none out. We got a ground ball and a double play and suddenly a double in the gap. It is a pressure situation but we got out of it with just one run scored. We got to go back and hit offensively.”

#23 Derek DeVos started and was the winning pitcher for Edmonton. He pitched five innings, striking out seven while giving up five hits, one run and walking two. DeVos is 1 and 3 for the season.

#54 Damian Pasillas (2-2) was tagged with the loss for Nanaimo. He went four innings, giving up three runs, five hits, walking one and striking out four.

The Riverhawks have won seven of their last 10 starts. Green says the team has a lot to prove after struggling results wise in the first half of the PCL season.

“I don’t thing there was pressure. There is a need for this organization. They want to win. They expect the best from us. We know we have been playing good baseball and we know it will come.”

“We have won four of our last five series, “stated Lanferman. “ This is the direction we have to go in. We have to win series and to chip around the start that we had. The majority of the group we will have at the end (of the season) are here. It is exciting to see everyone establish their roles. Hopefully we can get on a bit of a ‘heater’ in the back half.”

Lanferman says it’s a huge relief to have most of his players in the dugout for the rest of the season. He adds a lot of other WCL North squads will be losing a lot of players now. “We are set up well to compete and make a little push.”

Green figures the upcoming WCL All-star break won’t hurt the Riverhawks momentum. “ It will be good for us to give us more rest. We aren’t losing guys anymore. Our pitchers will be healthy.”

Edmonton will host the Marion Berries beginning tomorrow night Friday (July 10). It is the first ever meeting between the two West Coast League franchises.

“We need to come out sharp and ready to play,” says Green. “We can’t sit back and dwell on the fact they aren’t in our division. Every game is important if we want to make playoffs. We need to come out hard.”

“You just have to expect that they will bring their best baseball,’ assesses Lanferman about the Berries. “They are coming off a day of rest. Probably we will see their three best starters. It is going to be competitive.

The Riverhawks will throw # 30 Sam Coxen (Granite Bay, CA) in game one Friday. “It is always a treat when he starts,” the Edmonton skipper says about his starter. “It will be likely one of his last starts here. We can’t underestimate Marion. They are below us in the standings. In fact, we can’t take anyone for granted. We have 14 games in the next 17 who have worse records (Port Angeles, Kamloops and Marion). We need to do our job and keep winning series.”

Coxen has started four games, has a 2 and 2 record with a 2.84 earned run average in 19 innings pitched. He has 19 strikeouts.

Opening pitch is 7:05 PM MDT.