September 4 Canadians Preview
September 4, 2014 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Vancouver Canadians News Release
(Avista Stadium - Spokane, WA) - The Vancouver Canadians will have the chance to complete a series sweep of Spokane, securing their place in the Northwest League Championship Finals in search of a record-tying fourth straight title.
Ironically enough, the team that holds the record is the very same Indians team that stands in their way in tonight's North Division contest at Avista Stadium, having accomplished the feat winning four consecutive championships from 1987-1990 .
Not eager to share their place in the pages of the league record book, Spokane will need back-to-back victories after dropping four straight decisions in Vancouver, to send their rivals home empty-handed.
Making a push to end the series tonight, C's Manager John Schneider has elected to move ace LHP Jairo Labourt up in the rotation with the hopes of securing an off-day for his club ahead of Saturday's potential final with South Division Champs Hillsboro, who punched their ticket with a series sweep of Boise on Wednesday night.
Labourt enters tonight's contest as arguably the NWL's best pitcher with a league-leading 1.77 ERA and .188 batting average against to go with a second-place strikeout total of 82. His only meeting with Spokane came way back in the first week of the season in a rain-shortened one-plus inning outing where pitch control was made next to impossible by the monsoon-like conditions, as the Indians were able to record two runs without registering a hit on a walk, hit batter, and a pair of errors.
The big 6' 4" Dominican will likely be looking to show what he is capable of under normal circumstances in tonight's contest and will be opposed by RHP Richelson Pena who put together a balanced 5-5 record with a tidy 3.32 ERA in 14 starts for the tribe. Pena suffered losses in four of his last six games but maintained a dominant strikeout rate averaging over six strikeouts per game over his final five turns.
Rob Fai has the call tonight on the TEAM 1410 with a 30-minute pre-game show starting at 6:05pm, and all those that didn't take the seven hour drive south to Spokane can listen to every pitch and crack of the bat as the C's look to advance and make it four straight trips to the Northwest League finals.
Notes: While last night's 1-0 game featured defense and pitching, look for the offense to make their mark in a game that features 7 of the top 11 batters in the league, as well as post-season addition DH Rowdy Tellez who went 0-for-3 in his debut after hitting .357 over two weeks up the chain in Lansing.
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Northwest League Stories from September 4, 2014
- September 4 Canadians Preview - Vancouver Canadians
- Dust Devils 2014 Year in Review - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Hops Sweep Boise, Advance to NWL Championship Series - Hillsboro Hops
- Hops Sweep Boise, Advance to NWL Championship Series - Hillsboro Hops
- Canadians Open With 1-0 Shutout Victory Over Spokane - Vancouver Canadians
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