Riverhawks Pile On Runs to Take Road Game Number 2

2026-06-03

Hawks beat the HarbourCats 13-11 but hold the lead the whole game.

By Cody F. Schmidt

Continuing their first road series of the season, the Edmonton Riverhawks faced off against the Victoria HarbourCats for the second time tonight. Looking to redeem themselves after last night’s loss, the Hawks came swinging right off the bat and ended up with a 13-11 win. Edmonton’s offence stayed strong and patient through the game, combining for 11 hits and 15 walks. There were struggles at points as the defence combined for four errors, and late inning struggles from the bullpen led to Victoria being able to stay competitive. The bright spots in the line up belong to Easton Andrews going 3-for-5 with seven RBIs and a home run, Matt Vanslyke with a hit and four walks, and Kotaro Wakui, who was on base four times in six plate appearances.

The Riverhawks had an easygoing 1st inning at bat, as leadoff hitter #13 Jaxon Fox earned a walk, #31 Kotaro Wakui was plunked, and #25 Matt Vanslyke was also walked to load the bags. Cleanup hitter #51 Easton Andrews got to live up to his role, as he drilled the ball to right-centre and sent two runners home with a double. #36 Mitchell Middlemiss followed Andrews’ lead and smacked a 2-run double to nearly the exact same location to make it a 4-0 ballgame with just a single out. #17 Braeden Scott got hit, then #35 Louis Dion was walked to load the bases once again, restart the order, and chase Victoria’s starter Daniel Tovar before a strikeout ended the half-inning. #14 Chase Halvorson got his start in the bottom half with a pretty safe lead to play with, and while he issued a walk and a hit, he left the inning unscathed thanks in part to a runner gunned down by his battery-mate #32 Jason Green.

The Hawks weren’t done after the first as Wakui took a rip at his first pitch of the second and laced a double to the left field corner. An E6 let Vanslyke stay at first before a wild pitch sent both runner up a bag. Another mash from Andrews down to the left corner send both runners home and made it four runs batted in by the Hawks DH with a single. With an embiggened lead for his second inning on the bump, Halvorson gave up his first major hit with Victoria’s leadoff triple. A misplay on a pickoff attempt led to the first HarbourCats run, and was followed by a sacrifice fly to cut down the Hawks’ lead.

Dion led off the 3rd with a walk on four straight balls, then was balked to second base before Fox was issued a free pass as well. Vanslyke’s single to shallow left sent Dion home. After a one-pitch out to start the bottom of the 3rd, Halvorson issued a four-pitch walk but was able to corral the frame with a fly out and his first K of the game.

#58 Omar Gonzalez got on base for the first time in the 4th with a walk, after he had popped out twice prior. A hit from Dion gave the Riverhawks another runner, then Fox walked before Wakui hit a grounder up the first base foul line and under the outfield fence for a 2 RBI ground-rule-double. A walk to Vanslyke re-loaded the bases with two outs, but a ground out stopped the Hawks from hitting double digits in the 4th. The HarbourCats took Halvorson’s 55th pitch for a ride as a home run to left flew for their third run. Then after a walk, the Hawks had a defensive breakdown from a bobble at third and overthrows to first, second, and home leading to Victoria’s fourth run on a pair of errors. Halvorson got a meeting at the mound to regroup, but another misplay at third handed Vic another run and ended Chase’s night. #19 Carter Fink came in and cleaned up the inning with a grounder, a foul pop up and a thrown out runner at third.

With a couple of early outs, the Hawks had their first scoreless inning of the game in the 5th, stranding Scott and Gonzalez on base. Fink stayed in the game and started his first fresh inning with a strikeout looking. In the 6th the Hawks stayed patient and received three walks in a row (with a caught stealing) to Wakui, Vanslyke, and Andrews. Another balk put a pair in scoring position for #29 AJ Marchetti (in his second at bat after pinch hitting in the 4th) to crash an RBI single up the left field line. A play at the plate goes Victoria’s way but the Hawks still get their 10th run. Fink met his first bits of resistance from the Cats as they work a double and a walk off of him. A rough bounce to short gives Victoria a run, but Fink limits the damage to just a single run in the 6th.

#11 Brandon Craven came into the game for the bottom of the 7th after a three-up-three-down Hawks’ half. A walk, a single, and a hit batter loaded the bags for the Cats with just one out. A strikeout and a sac fly give some resistance before the HarbourCats earned another run before a dropped third strike held the Hawks’ lead by two going into the 8th.

Facing a newly slimmed lead the Riverhawks stayed patient with walks to Fox and Vanslyke. Then in his fifth plate appearance of the game, Easton Andrews clobbered a deep drive to right field for his first home run as a Riverhawk. Taking the mound afterwards with a renewed 5-run lead, #53 Alan Gonzalez walked the bases loaded. After a K, a misplay on the transfer at second led to a Cats run and the bags staying loaded, leading to a walked in tenth Victoria run. That would be the end of the road for Gonzalez, and #33 Logan Colville would replace him. After walking in another run for the Cats, Colville worked a pair of Ks to escape the inning and once again leave the Hawks with a two run lead.

With the Hawks unable to make anything happen in the 9th, it was up to Colville to carry them through. A leadoff infield single and a drop shot to shallow centre put the tying run at the plate with no outs. A 6-4-3 double play evened out things and put Logan just three strikes away, and he was able to use four more pitches to notch them and secure the win.

The series concludes early tomorrow, with a 12:05PM MDT start with the rubber match. Keep an eye on @edmriverhawks for updates and catch the game on https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv