WCL Victoria HabourCats

HarbourCats Bats Provide Fireworks vs Yakima

August 4, 2015 - West Coast League (WCL)
Victoria HabourCats News Release


VICTORIA, B.C. -- You knew it was going to be a good night when Steve Wallace threw the ceremonial first pitch for a strike.

On Wallace Driving School Fireworks Night, the Victoria HarbourCats kept their winning ways alive with an 11-5 win over the visiting Yakima Valley Pippins, in front of 4,307 screaming fans -- the second-highest crowd total in franchise history. (Opening night was 4,627, a WCL record.)

The HarbourCats are now 26-22 on the season, winning five in a row and 18 of their last 22, a stretch of .750 baseball that moved the team ahead of Yakima (26-23) in the playoff standings. With Corvallis winning 10-4 in Walla Walla, the Knights remain two games ahead of the HarbourCats for the wild card spot. Both teams are 8-2 in their past 10 games.

In the two previous seasons, the HarbourCats posted 22 wins and 24 wins respectively.

The HarbourCats are four games back of the West Division-leading Bellingham Bells with six games level.

On Monday, the HarbourCats took a 3-1 lead to the fourth inning, but a run in the fourth and two in the fifth from Yakima Valley put the visitors up 4-3. A three-run sixth and a five-run eighth ignited the crowd and gave Victoria a commanding lead.

Starting pitcher Austin Dondanville went seven innings allowing six hits and six strikeouts, giving up four runs (three earned) and walking one. Shawn Kennedy and Mikey Wright threw an inning each in relief.

Matt Campbell took the loss as the HarbourCats outhit the Pippins 10-8, but made one more error than Yakima Valley (3-2).

Alex DeGoti was 3-5 with two runs and an RBI, and PJ Floyd and Austin Guibor were both 2-3. Kevin Collard and Floyd drove in a pair of runs each.

The night was then punctuated with a 17-minute fireworks show that led about 250 people from the neighbourhood to either rim the exterior fences of Sports Traders Diamond at RAP or enter the park to take in the pyrotechnics.

The two teams meet again Tuesday night with playoff aspirations remaining on the line.

Tuesday's game is Harvey's Birthday and Monk Office Game Night with CFAX and Bell Media taking over a major section of the park with family-pass radio giveaways. It's a 6:35pm start with gates opening at 5:30pm.

On Wednesday, the final regular season home game of the 2015 campaign, it's Fan Appreciation Night with Ocean 98.5-FM and Flight Centres, with big news about a HarbourCats/Flight Centres Spring Training trip for March of 2016.



West Coast League Stories from August 4, 2015


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