HarbourCats Sweep Sweets, Stone Breaks Through
July 28, 2016 - West Coast League (WCL)
Victoria HabourCats News Release
Victoria, BC - Jake Stone had three hits, including a pair of doubles and a walk, to help the Victoria HarbourCats to a 3-2 win over the Walla Walla Sweets in the final game of their three game West Coast League (WCL) series Thursday afternoon in front of 1,301 at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria.
The Sweets loss deals them a big blow heading into the stretch, as they came into the series tied for first in the North, but now find themselves three games back of 11-7 Victoria for the second half title, but more importantly at 23-22, two games behind Bellingham (24-20) for second overall with nine games left to play in the season.
In Thursday's game, under sunny and hot summer conditions, both Walla Walla and the 'Cats notched a run in the second to open the scoring, with the Sweets' run coming on a solo home run from Hayden Duer, that just escaped the leap of 'Cats outfielder AJ Alcantara and the HarbourCats run coming thanks to back-to-back doubles from Jake Stone and Ryan Anderson.
The Sweets took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth when Griffin Mazur doubled and then was plated on an RBI single from Ben Baird, but Victoria would respond an inning later to tie the score 2-2 when Stone would lead off the inning with his second double of the day and then come in to score on a Tommy Jew groundout later in the inning.
After Victoria starter Josh Mitchell (7 innings pitched, 2 runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts) shut the Sweets down in the top of the seventh, the HarbourCats would sneak into the lead in the bottom of the inning when Matt Lautz would stroke a one-out single, move to second on a Brad Pluschkell hit and then score on an RBI single from AJ Alcantara.
Austin Dondanville would then come in for the top of the eighth to strike out the side and then cruise through the ninth one-two-three to close out the win, earn the save and give the HarbourCats the sweep.
Stone with his three hits and a walk, shared player of the game honours with pitcher Josh Mitchell, who moves to 6-0 on the season with the win.
The HarbourCats move to 11-7 on the second half of the season and 34-11 overall, putting them six wins away of their goal of 40 wins, which if attained, would be a new West Coast League record.
The 'Cats will look to earn those six wins in their remaining nine games, the first six of which are on the road, with three in Bellingham starting Friday, three in Kitsap starting Monday August 1 and then the final three games back here at home starting on Friday August 5 against the Yakima Valley Pippins.
West Coast League Stories from July 28, 2016
- Knights Win - Corvallis Knights
- Sweets Drop Close Game Three, Get Swept - Walla Walla Sweets
- HarbourCats Sweep Sweets, Stone Breaks Through - Victoria HabourCats
- GreyWolves Rally Twice against Kitsap Before Falling 9-8 - Gresham GreyWolves
- Applesox Offense Explodes, Dismantles Kelowna 13-3 - Wenatchee AppleSox
- Bells Pin Down Black Bears - Bellingham Bells
- AppleSox Top Falcons - Kelowna Falcons
- Late Miscues Foil Pippins Comeback Efforts vs. West Coast Guns - Yakima Valley Pippins
- Victoria Explodes on Offense to Take Game Two from Sweets - Walla Walla Sweets
- Wedding Proposal and a Win at HarbourCats Game - Victoria HabourCats
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