Hawks Held Back in Home Opener
2026-05-29
Wenatchee surged in the back half to overtake Riverhawks
Box ScoreBy Cody F. Schmidt
The Edmonton Riverhawks are back for the 2026 West Coast League season and kicked things off against the Wenatchee AppleSox. After an hour’s rain delay the Hawks took the field clad in brand new indigenous designed hats and jerseys in front of 6705 fans packing RE/MAX Field.
While Wenatchee took the game 6-2 over Edmonton, the Riverhawks took an early lead that they carried into the 5th. Unable to find solid footing on the mound after staring pitcher Sam Coxen carried two clean innings, the Riverhawks bullpen surrendered nine hits to the AppleSox, and only held one scoreless inning in the back half of the game. At the plate the Hawks combined for 11 strikeouts with only Jason Green and Mitchell Middlemiss avoiding the K in the starting lineup. Edmonton struggled to put together any cohesive rallies after the 2nd, with multiple innings of back-to-back groundouts.
The Riverhawks turned to #30 Sam Coxen to kick off the season, and he managed to punctuate the 1st frame with his first strikeout in Edmonton. Coxen returned for the 2nd and retired his next batter on three straight swings, then held Wenatchee hitless through the inning.
#32 Jason Green earned the honours of the first Hawks base hit of the season, leading off the 2nd with a line drive to left-centre. A fielder’s choice to #36 Mitchell Middlemiss swapped runners at first before a walk to #31 Kotoro Wakui moved the runner up. This primed things for #15 Braden Scott’s RBI double that sent Middlemiss home and earned the Hawks their initial lead.
#19 Carter Fink took over on the mound for the 3rd and kept up Coxen’s momentum, while the Sox got their first hit off a bouncer up the middle, Fink fought back to get a strikeout to polish off the frame. Fink earned another strikeout in the 4th but was replaced with two outs with #38 David Sheppard, the LOOGY who grounded out his first batter.
Sheppard returned for the 5th and got a strikeout looking before a pair of base hits and a balk gave Wenatchee their first honest chance of the game. A two-RBI single up the middle pushed the AppleSox into the lead before Sheppard could retire the side with a swinging strikeout.
A call to the arm barn in the 6th brought out #33 Logan Colville, but an extended at bat against the AppleSox leadoff batter ended in a home run to left and extended Wenatchee’s lead. Colville was able to bring an end to the top half of the 6th with a swinging K
#13 Jaxon Fox led off the bottom half with a bunt single to the third base side off the first pitch he saw. Fox showed his speed as he was able to beat out the throw and give a jolt to the lineup. Still heads up, Fox moved to second base on a missed pickoff, then third on a wild pitch, #1 Shiryu Sato followed up with a walk to chase the AppleSox’s starter from the game. Another wild pitch moved Sato into scoring position before Green belted a sacrifice fly to score Fox and give Edmonton their second run. Sato would then get tagged at the plate with a hasty run home on a bullet single from Middlemiss.
#11 Brandon Craven got the honours on the mound for the 7th, and only surrendered a base hit while taking care of the Sox with a pair of swinging Ks. Wakui got plunked with his first pitch of the bottom half, before a fielder’s choice from #15 Braeden Scott was followed by another FC from #20 Oliver Clements, before another grounder up the middle by pinch hitter #45 Marvin Hill ended the inning.
Craven carried on into the 8th and notched his third K against the leadoff batter. But, after handing out back-to-back-to-back walks moved Wenatchees runners into the danger zone. The call from the pen brought #40 Nikau Heeney to close out the inning, but not before Wenatchee could run out of a double play and add on a fourth run.
Getting the assignment for the 9th was #46 Donovan Wallace, who gave up a walk and stolen bag. Fielding the ball and turning to make a toss to an empty third base, Wallace was tripped up on an infield hit letting runners stand on the corners with no outs. A ꓘ bought Wallace some room, but a line drive to shallow left scored both runners for Wenatchee. Wallace cleared the frame with another K and a grounder before the Hawks got their last chance to bat.
While getting hit in the wrist wasn’t the start to the inning Jason Green was likely looking for, but the HBP runner ended up getting switched for Middlemiss on a fielder’s choice. A strikeout put the Hawks down to their last chance as Middlemiss stole second. A swinging strikeout sealed the game for Wenatchee, and started Edmonton’s season out with a loss.
The Riverhawks will rebound tomorrow night as they debut the 2026 alternate identity: The River Valley Tree Huggers. The whole stadium will be celebrating the Edmonton River Valley with lost of festivities in the stands and on the screens along with the team.
Show up and show your love of the Hawks and the river valley by heading to tickets.gohawks.ca and we’ll see you back at RE/MAX Field tomorrow night!