Hawks Take it to the Final Out, But Nanaimo Breaks the Tie

2025-06-27

Jason Green’s grand slam isn’t enough to get the Hawks ahead in a wild 9-10 loss

By Cody F. Schmidt

What began as a quiet pitchers duel through six innings erupted into a high-scoring slugfest between the Edmonton Riverhawks and Nanaimo NightOwls in the back third. Scoring a collective sixteen runs across the back three innings, the Hawks and Owls traded the lead until the final AB, where a sac fly led to a play at the plate. Nanaimo emerged victorious in the end, walking off the Riverhawks 9-10.
Wild things started happening as soon as the first pitch was thrown, as the first toss of the game came in and connected with #6 Robert Phelps’ helmet. The HBP was followed by a balk sending Phelps to second, then a wild pitch gave hime a chance to run to third base. #35 Trent Lenihan got the Riverhawks on the board early with a rolling base hit single up the middle, scoring Phelps.

The Hawks quieted down until the 5th, as with two outs #5 Anthony Kodama blasted a stand-up double to the warning track in right. Another NightOwls balk would send Kodama to third, but he wasn’t able to come around as a groundout spoiled the chance.

A pair of walks to #1 Shiryu Sato and #48 Max Stagg started off the 6th and led to the NightOwls making a pitching change. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Lenihan earned his second RBI of the night on a ground ball to third base, enough to bring Sato across home plate. #32 Jason Green almost had a two-run homer, but the NightOwls left fielder Spencer Sullivan robbed the dinger with a glove over the fence. #25 Royce Hale would give the NightOwls a taste of their own medicine in the bottom half, robbing a homer from Nanaimo with a leap above the fence.

Facing the NightOwls’ first lead of the game, the Hawks came out swinging in the 8th with back-to-back-to-back singles from Phelps, Sato, and Stagg. Getting his hero moment after the previously robbed dinger, Green belted one way further over the fence in left for a game leading grand slam! The exact amount the Hawks needed to regain the lead, Green cleared the fence for the second time and this one really counted.

Back down again in the 9th, #13 Grant Yzermans led off with a single, then Kodamaand Phelps both followed with walks. Sato joined the crew, the third batter in a row that walked on a full count, and the base on balls brought Yzermans home. Stagg got a bouncing single up the left field line to tie the game up, but that would be the last run of the 9th for the Hawks as a pair of Ks ended the frame.

Making his fourth start of the season, #41 James Brock kicked the game off with a 9-pitch 1-2-3 1st inning. Brock continued to cruise easily against the Owls through the next few innings, allowing just one hit across the 2nd and 3rd. Entering the 4th with 30 pitches under his belt, Brock was working very effectively retiring batters and was aided by a batter’s interference call that finished the inning. The 5th was the first major trouble for Brock, as a leadoff E6 was followed by a sac bunt and a balk call, giving a one-out runner on third. A strikeout and a walk later the Owls managed to put wood on the ball and tie the game. Brock would tie his season-high, tossing 6.0 innings of 3-hit ball. Brock also walked a pair and struck out three, all swinging.

The Hawks made the call to the pen for the 7th, and sent out #21 Myles Chamberlain. Myles ran into trouble fast, as a pair of singles and a hit batter loaded the bags with no outs. A fielder’s choice play at home stopped the Owls’ first chance at scoring, but a passed ball for pitches later let Nanaimo tie the game. Then a liner bounced off of the leaping Phelps’ glove and landed in the outfield, scoring a pair and ending Chamberlain’s night with just 0.1+ IP.

#2 Austin Egan did his best to get out of the 7th, but still faced an RBI single, a double and a walk before clearing the jam. The NightOwls managed to bat around in the inning, and roughed up the Riverhawks for a very temporary three run lead.

Getting a clean slate and a lead in the 8th was #33 George Naramore. Two walks and a pair of passed balls put runners on the corners with one out, and Lanferman made the call to exchange #15 Jack Becker on the bump. A high single scored the leading runner, credited to Naramore, then passed balls, a double, and a single ran up the score to make it a four run inning for Nanaimo.

#14 Tate Dearing came out for his usual spot in the 9th, and after a quick strikeout, a pair of singles put runners on the corners. A sac fly to shallow right led to a play at the plate, and Nanaimo’s runner managed to just get a hand under Green’s tag for the walk off win.

Brock’s strong start was spoiled by bullpen inconsistency and a deluge of Nanaimo runs. None of the five relievers were credited with more than 0.2 innings pitched, and they were responsible for all but the initial run which wasn’t even credited to Brock.

Nanaimo improves their record to 10-12 on the year. Edmonton drops their second straight contest on their six game Vancouver Island road swing and falls to 12-9.

Last night’s game with the Victoria HarbourCats was rained out in the third inning. The two teams reconvene in August and will pick up the game then if necessary. The Riverhawks have two more road games against the Nanaimo NightOwls before they return home for a Canada Day Spectacular presented by 880 CHED and Global Edmonton.

Head over to tickets.gohawks.ca to grab yourself a seat, they’re going quick! 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.