GreyWolves Overcome Early Deficit, Odd Delay to Take Series from Victoria
July 15, 2016 - West Coast League (WCL)
Gresham GreyWolves News Release
GRESHAM, Ore. - It was not your typical night at the ballpark, but the Gresham GreyWolves will happily take the 9-6 win that came in a lengthy and unusual rubber match against the visiting Victoria HarbourCats.
Konnor Zickefoose (Chapman) went 4-for-5 at the plate and Josh Adams (UC Santa Barbara) homered for the second time in three nights as Gresham (7-2, 18-18 overall) shook off an early three-run deficit in a battle of two first-place teams. The game marked the team's final West Coast League contest before the All-Star break, with play resuming Wednesday at home against the Corvallis Knights.
"This is huge," said head coach Justin Barchus after the win. "Knowing that Victoria is the best team in this league record-wise and we just beat them in a series gives us a lot of confidence."
The series finale with Victoria (3-3, 26-7) got off to an inauspicious start, with the visitors from British Columbia plating three runs in the top of the first inning. The GreyWolves would soon hit the comeback trail, however, getting one run back in the second off a Ben Klenke sacrifice fly before exploding for a five-spot in the fourth.
Zickefoose continued his hot night with an RBI double to get the rally started, and Curtis Perrin (Seattle) and Mark Cardinalli (UC Davis) followed suit with a pair of two-RBI singles later in the frame. The HarbourCats finally got out of the inning after pulling their starting pitcher from the game, but not before Barchus' team had doubled their score at 6-3.
"Their guy (starter Will McAffer) is really good," Barchus said. "He is as good as they have had this year and he shut us down up in Victoria. So kudos to our players for challenging him like we did."
Gresham extended its lead to five runs in the fifth against the opponent's bullpen, using a throwing error by first baseman Matt Smith and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nick Snyder to score two more runs. Victoria did manage to keep itself in the game by striking back for two runs in the sixth, but the GreyWolves still held an 8-5 advantage at that point.
The game took an interesting turn at that point, as reliever Jack Wolger was sent back out to the mound to start the bottom of the sixth inning. HarbourCats head coach Graig Merritt then attempted to pull Wolger from the game after he completed his warmup tosses (but before he faced the first batter of the frame), which is not allowed under NCAA rules. Merritt was informed of this by the umpiring crew, and disagreeing with the ruling, the coach momentarily put the game under protest.
"In order to accept the protest as umpires, they actually have to show them (the team protesting) the rule," said Barchus after the game. "So the field umpire had to run back to the locker room to find the rule book and make sure he got it right."
The ruling was indeed correct, seemingly nullifying the protest. Merritt, however, decided to not pull Wolger after he retired the first batter of the inning, a quizzical move after the 20-minute delay ground the game to a halt.
"That was interesting," cleanup man Josh Adams said. "I thought it was kind of shocking that their coach would do something like that, having the umpire go all the way to check out the rule and then not end up pulling the pitcher after the first at-bat. It's part of the game."
In an interesting turn of fate, Adams would end up homering off of Wolger with two outs in the inning. The blast gave his team a four-run lead with just three innings to play.
The home run seemed to take the wind out of the HarbourCats' sails, who managed to get one run in the ninth but nothing more. The 9-6 victory sealed Gresham's third consecutive series win.
"It feels good," Barchus says. "It keeps us in the driver's seat (in the South Division). We have a chance to win the division and make the playoffs, which is what our goal has been."
The GreyWolves will now head down to Keizer for an exhibition game against the Perth Heat on Friday night. The game will be the team's final contest until the middle of next week, when WCL play continues back at Olsund Field.
"I think the break is going to come at a perfect time for our guys since we're playing 31 games in the past 32 days," says Barchus. "The schedule has not been kind to us at times, so it will be nice for our guys to get a little bit of a break and enjoy being kids." -- Connor Pelton Media Relations - Gresham GreyWolves Co-Managing Editor - House of Sparky Cell: 503-998-7686
West Coast League Stories from July 15, 2016
- Bells Fall to Sweets - Bellingham Bells
- HarbourCats Hunt Elk(S) in Road Series Opener - Victoria HabourCats
- Knights Win Series Opener over Cowlitz - Corvallis Knights
- GreyWolves Overcome Early Deficit, Odd Delay to Take Series from Victoria - Gresham GreyWolves
- Bells Take a Bite out of the Pippins - Bellingham Bells
- Sweets Use Late Comeback, Bullpen to Secure Series - Walla Walla Sweets
- Sloppy Defense Spoils Series Finale - Yakima Valley Pippins
- HarbourCats Drop Series Finale in Gresham - Victoria HabourCats
- Knights Lose Finale - Corvallis Knights
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