Summer Collegiate

Bells, Smoke take toll on NorthPaws

Published

3 years ago

July 24, 2023

Dugout Wire Service

Author: Larry Read

KAMLOOPS, BC—The Kamloops NorthPaws fell into some old habits and had Mother Nature go against them as they were only able to host the Bellingham Bells in two of three scheduled West Coast League baseball games this weekend.

The Bells took advantage of Kamloops not being able to get runs across and some spotty pitching as they took the Paws 3-0 on Friday (July 21) and 11-9 on Saturday (July 22).

The scheduled third game for Sunday (July 23) was cancelled due to poor air quality as a result of many wildfires in the BC Interior including the Ross Moore Lake blaze, 13 kilometres south of Kamloops.

Bellingham is now 6-8 in the second half and 26-15 overall on the season. Kamloops is 2-12 on the back half of the campaign and is 9-32 overall.

After a day off, the NorthPaws close out their most recent homestand with a three-game series with the Victoria HarbourCats.

Game one of the series is Tuesday, July 25 th at Dearborn Ford Field at Norbrock Stadium. Opening pitch is 6:35 PM. Victoria has lost their last two outings but have a second half record of 10-5 and are 29-13 overall.

Bellingham has a night off and continues their nine game in 11 night road swing with a stopover in Wenatchee, Washington against the AppleSox. Game one of the Bells/AppleSox series is Tuesday July 25th.

All West Coast League games are available via their website: https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv/

SERIES RECAP:

Friday, July 21, 2023: Bells 3 NorthPaws 0

686 people at Dearborn Ford Field at Norbrock Stadium for “Country 103 Night”. The Bells opened the scoring in the top of the third when Coleman Schmidt (Reno, NV) hit a solo home run. It was his second ‘dinger’ of the season.

Bellingham went up 2-0 in the seventh when Cole Yoshida (Vasalia, CA) doubled and scored driving in Ty Saunders (Anacordes, WA). The other Bells run came in the eighth when Andrew Valdez (Visalia, CA) walked and scored on a wild pitch delivered by NorthPaws reliever Marty Recchi (Kamloops, BC).

Schmidt was 1-4 with a run scored and a run batted in. Yoshida was also 1-4 with a run batted in. Sanders was 1-4 with a run scored. Riley Parker (Snohomish, WA) was 1-3 with a run batted in as well for Bellingham.

Offensively, Cooper Neville (Glendale, AZ) was 2-4. Drew Giannini (Tracy, CA) was 2-3 while Phoenix Sommay (Temecula, CA) was 1-3.

Ryan Beitel (Surrey, BC) was the winning pitcher for Bellingham. He moves to 4-1 on the year in his seventh start of the summer. He had a four hitter over four innings and had four strikeouts. Hunter Long (Ladera Ranch,CA) pitched three innings for the save. He struck out five and gave up two hits. It was his first save in five appearances.

Christian Spitz (Overland Park, KS) started his fifth game of the year and was tagged with the loss for Kamloops, He is 1-3 . In this game he went five innings, giving up two hits, one run, striking out four and walking five.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598689

Saturday, July 22, 2023: Bells 11 NorthPaws 9

This was a see saw battle. Bellingham scored twice in the opening inning and were up 3-0 after an inning and a half. Kamloops scored three times in the bottom of the second to tie it.

Then, with the score deadlocked at four in the bottom of the fifth, Kamloops scored four times to take an 8-4 lead. The Bells would then score four in the sixth inning and add three more in the seventh to take an 11-8 lead before the NorthPaws would add one more. Bellingham scored 11 runs on 10 hits and committed one error to Kamloops’ nine runs on 10 hits and four errors.

Yoshida was 2-3 with two runs scored and three runs batted in to lead Bellingham offensively. Dean West (Woodland Hills, CA) hit a homer to lead off the second inning. It was his first ‘round tripper’ of the campaign. He was 3-5 with three runs scored and two runs batted in.

Kamloops was led by Gage Mestas (Durango, CA). He was 4-5 with a double and triple and five runs batted in. Sommay was 2-4 with two runs scored and had a run batted in. Giannini was 1-5 with a run batted in and a run scored.

Thompson Rivers University WolfPack player Lucas Maricle (Trail, BC) made his NorthPaws debut in relief and was tagged with the loss. He went two thirds of an inning giving up two hits, four runs, walking two and striking out one. He was the second of five Kamloops pitchers. Tomas Urbina (Avondale, AZ) was the winner for Bellingham to increase his record to 3-1. He pitched one inning. Trevin Hope (Blaine, WA) pitched three innings for his first save in six appearances. He gave up one run on two hits, walking one and striking out one.

Link to Scoresheet: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=598690

Sunday, July 23, 2023: Game Cancelled due to poor air quality

HEAD COACH KEITH FRANCIS:

On two games:

“We were right there to win both of those games. We cant get over the top for some reason. One night we hit the ball. I think we had five hits the first night. All of the five hits were with two outs. No one was on base. We couldn’t get a hit. Saturday, we scored well but unfortunately our pitching fell apart. Unfortunately, we made some errors, which we hadn’t done for a while (NorthPaws with four errors). Those errors led to runs by them. They came back and we weren’t able to get any closer.”

On upcoming series hosting Victoria/pitching and cancelled game Sunday.:

“They beat us pretty good to start the season. We weren’t hitting or didn’t pitch well. We have three good starters going against them. Even though it was bad we couldn’t play today (Sunday), it actually helps us for the standpoint of our pitching. They got an extra day off. The numbers (of pitchers) are way down. It is just like ‘chess pieces’ now. Just trying to match guys—having them pitch an inning or so out of the pen. It is a struggle. We have to get nine innings done and sometimes we just don’t have enough arms. We got starters. We have enough for every game. It’s the guys coming in behind them where we aren’t getting it done right now.”

NEXT UP FOR THE NORTHPAWS:

The Victoria HarbourCats will be in town for a three game series (July 25-27). The teams met in Victoria on the opening weekend of the season where the HarbourCats swept the NorthPaws.

Wednesday (July 26) will see the NorthPaws honor their “Host Families” during the contest.

PLAYERS TO WATCH ON THE HARBOURCATS:

Hudson Shupe (West Richland, WA). The shortstop leads the West Coast League in hitting at .394.

Tyler Davis (Fresno, CA) has the second most homers in the WCL with 6. He is eighth in the league in hitting with an average of .331.

Dalls Macias (Marker, Col) is 10th in the West Coast League in hitting at .327.

Nick Dumesnil (Huntington, CA) is tied for sixth in the league in homers with four.

Logan MacNeil (Vancouver, BC) leads the HarbourCats in Earned Run Average at 1.50. He has played seven games and has a record of 4-0.

If you can’t make the home games, they are all webcast on https://wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv/ . Some home games will also be shown on Shaw TV in Kamloops (Cable 10 or 105 with Blue Curve).

NEW FAN PROMOTION:

The NorthPaws are looking for their newest fans. The team is running a promotion right now which sees you capture a $15 ticket for any home game for the remainder of the season. There are only 100 of these tickets avvilable. Visit tickets.northpawsbaseball.ca and click “Find tickets” on the game you would like to attend. Enter “NEWESTFAN’ into the promo code box and the tickets are unlocked!.

TAILGATE PARTY:

The Molson’s Tailgate Party is operating before every NorthPaws home game. It runs Tuesday through Saturday 5-630 PM. The Party runs Sundays noon-1 PM. Hotdogs and a Pilsner are sold for $ 12.00 plus tax.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats Close Out Series with 6-3 Loss

Published

1 day ago

June 7, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

The Cats mustered just five runs over the three game series. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats offence came up short in this afternoon’s ballgame, as Victoria was defeated 6-3 to finish off the weekend.

The Falcons took an early lead this afternoon on a sacrifice fly to centre, but it was smooth sailing otherwise for starting pitcher Jeremiah Arnett (Rice). The righty gave up four hits over four innings, the only run being that sac fly, with a trio of strikeouts and no free passes.

BOX SCORE

Austin Lindsey (Hill College) was tagged in for the top of the fifth and nailed his first inning of work, setting the Falcons down in order. The sixth was a different story, as Lindsey allowed a solo homer to push Kelowna’s lead to 2-0.

San Jose State reliever Landon Marchetti took over on the mound for the seventh, letting a couple of runners on but managing to escape the inning without a run scoring.

Flynn Warren (Hawaii Pacific) emerged from the bullpen in the top of the eighth to a precarious situation: bases loaded, no outs. The New Zealander walked one batter, hit two more, and gave up a sacrifice fly to allow four runs before the end of the frame.

Jeremiah Arnett (Rice) pitched four innings with three strikeouts. (Photo by JPM Photography)

The bottom of the eighth saw the HarbourCats offence finally gain some ground. A double from Kade Davis (UTSA) made room for Koa Won (Hawaii) to score, followed up by a single from Hewitt to bring in another run. Marcus Nolen (Fresno State) drove in one more before the inning came to a close with a score of 6-3 in favour of the Falcons.

The Cats would be unable to add on any more runs in the bottom of the ninth, dropping the final game of the series 6-3.

WCL STANDINGS

Victoria will now head on the road for a midweek matchup with the Edmonton Riverhawks, returning home on Friday to take on the Springfield Drifters.

Single game tickets for all HarbourCats games and the 2026 West Coast League All-Star Game and Home Run Derby are now on sale at http://harbourcats.com/tickets. Season tickets, 12-pack and 32-pack game vouchers may also be bought online or by stopping by the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats Offence Stunted Versus Kelowna

Published

2 days ago

June 7, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats were defeated 8-1 by the Kelowna Falcons in the second game of the series.

The Falcons drew first blood in this one, launching a three-run dinger to left field in the top of the fourth to snag an early lead. Victoria’s starting pitcher Schuyler Fairchild (Wenatchee Valley) had cruised through the first three frames without much trouble up to that point, but his contributions this evening came to a close after the long ball in the fourth. Fairchild allowed three runs on four hits, striking out one batter and issuing a walk.

BOX SCORE

Inning number five required the services of Auburn, Washington’s Caden Shoul (Wenatchee Valley). The right-hander pitched 1.2 innings, calling it a night after giving up two runs in the top of the sixth to push Kelowna’s lead to 5-0.

Tyler Bono (North Central Texas) came into the game with the bases loaded and put on a sub-par performance, hitting two batters and walking one to allow three more runs. Marcus Janovsky (UBC) was summoned from the bullpen to finally get out of the inning.

Garen Geoghegan (Whitman) and Pierce Stone (Regis) combined for two scoreless innings in the final stages of the game, but Victoria’s offence continued to sputter.

Centre fielder Marcus Nolen (Fresno State) led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, and was welcomed home by another double hammered by Carter Eberhard (Cal Baptist) to score the Cats’ first and only run of the game.

WCL STANDINGS

The Cats close out the series on Sunday, June 7 at 1:05 pm before departing to Alberta for a midweek matchup with the Edmonton Riverhawks.

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Summer Collegiate

Victoria HarbourCats – Cats Fall 4-1 to Falcons

Published

3 days ago

June 6, 2026

Dugout Wire Service

Missed opportunities with runners in scoring position led to a disappointing outcome for the Cats. (Photo by Victoria Spotlight Photography)

Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats were defeated 4-1 by the Kelowna Falcons on Friday night in the first game of the series.

Both sides’ bats stayed quiet until the third inning this evening, when the Falcons drove a pair of base hits up the middle, jumping out in front to a 2-0 lead.

BOX SCORE

Easton Reimers (North Dakota State) entered the game in the top of the fourth to relieve Cats starter Bryson Toner (Hawaii). Toner allowed two runs on five hits through his three innings on the bump this evening, throwing in a walk and a strikeout as well.

Reimers was excellent throughout his first two innings until a leadoff homer in the sixth broke his hitless streak. A second run scored on a passed ball before Reimers was able to get out of the inning and pass the baton to Jack Clark (CSU San Marcos).

The Cats offence woke up in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases and scoring a run on a ball that dropped just fair in left field from Rohne Klein (San Jose State). That was the only run they got on this crucial opportunity, as the Falcons picked up a big strikeout to escape the jam and maintain a 4-1 lead.

Tate Collins (Arkansas State) claimed control of the mound for the Cats in the top of the eighth inning. Despite a leadoff walk, the Little Rock, Arizona native tossed a zero on the board to bring about the bottom of the eighth for the Victoria offence.

The Cats were unable to pull off a comeback after loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth, leaving the runners stranded and losing the ballgame 4-1

WCL STANDINGS

Victoria and Kelowna will be back in action Saturday, June 6 at 6:35 pm for game two of the weekend series.

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