Todd Haney’s team were unable to complete the sweep on Taylor Swift Night (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

June 28, 2024

For immediate release

VICTORIA, B.C. – The Port Angeles Lefties will leave the island with a win, beating the Victoria HarbourCats 5-3 to avoid the sweep.

It was Taylor Swift Night at the ballpark with one lucky fan going home with a pair of Eras Tour tickets, thanks to Maxxam Insurance.

The Lefties jumped on Cats starter Ryne Palmer (Cal Baptist) early scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Palmer settled down after giving up two runs in the first, retiring eleven straight batters to complete his fourth start of the season. The Peoria, Arizona native pitched four innings giving up two runs on three hits while striking out four.

BOX SCORE

Cam Schneider went 1-4 with an RBI (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

The Cats continued to be haunted by infielder Roberto Nunez who went 3-5 with two RBIs on Friday, his third straight multi-hit game against in this series.

Two HarbourCats errors in the fifth gifted the Lefties a run making it 3-0.

Garrett Teunissen’s (Cal State San Marcos) perfect bunt in the bottom of the fifth caused an errant throw, allowing Kyle Micklus (West Texas A&M) to score, getting the Cats on the board. A Cam Schneider (Fresno State) RBI groundout made it 3-2 later in the inning.

LEAGUE STANDINGS

The Lefties added a single run in the sixth and seventh innings, extending their advantage to 5-2.

Sparks flew off the bottom on Ny’Zaiah Thompson’s (Cal State Fullerton) cleats as he stole four bases on the night. He is now tied with teammate Teunissen for the WCL lead with 13 steals.

Ryne Palmer pitched four strong innings in his fifth appearance of the season (Photo: Christian J. Stewart)

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Brandon Bertsch (Texas) and Kade Douglas (CSU Pueblo) pitched two innings each, the sixth appearance of the season for both.

Jacob Thompson (Minot State) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the HarbourCats, a feeling he knows all too well. The North Saanich native has pitched 11.2 innings over seven games giving up zero runs.

A Kerim Orucevic (UCSD) RBI single in the bottom of the ninth made it 5-3 and put the winning run on base. However, the HarbourCats rally came short as Connor Dykstra (George Mason) grounded out with the bases loaded to end the game.

The HarbourCats look to shake it off tomorrow night in Nanaimo as they continue the RE/MAX Generation Island Cup. The two rivals play at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park on Sunday, June 30 at 6:35 PM. It is the second fireworks night of the season! Get tickets at http://harbourcats.com/tickets, by coming to the office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street in advance, or by calling 778-265-0327.

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NANAIMO, B.C. — It took a walkoff in the ninth to overshadow the De-show.

On a night when Deshon Thomas was 4-4 and threw out the potential winning run at the plate to end the top of the ninth inning at historic Serauxmen Stadium, it was a double by Nevan Noonan and a run-scoring single by Aaron Marsh that stole the headline — in a team sport, that really doesn’t matter.

The Nanaimo NightOwls prevailed 4-3 in walkoff fashion over the visiting Kamloops NorthPaws on Thursday night, securing the series win for Nanaimo, now 9-12 on the season. Nanaimo had won the first game handily, with Kamloops breaking a 14-game losing streak with a win on Wednesday.

Thomas, the Arizona Christian right-handed hitter playing left field, had three singles and a double, raising his batting average to .258. He also scored a run.

Noonan, thanks in part to his leadoff double in the top of the ninth, was 2-4 with a run, and Wylie Waters drove in two runs — a home run in the first inning, two batters after Riley Paulino had tripled to open the bottom of the first, that helped the NightOwls lead 3-0 by the fourth inning, a lead they milked until the fourth inning. Marsh, who played second base, was 2-5 with an RBI and run scored, and his single was a solid line drive into the left-centre gap, easily scoring his middle-infield partner Noonan.

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Kamloops (4-16) was held without a run until the ninth inning when they pushed three across to set up the dramatic bottom of the ninth. Ryan Inouye gave up three hits and was relieved by Hayden Cuthbertson, who held the damage to the three runs — thanks in part to the throw by Thomas, on the mark to catcher Ayden Hadley to cut down the possible go-ahead run.

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Aiden Russell was strong in his start, going three innings, striking out six ,walking two and giving up four hits — but no runs. Payton Robertson was spotless in three innings, giving up three hits and a walk, followed by two perfect innings from Lawson Minshew.

The NightOwls now get a rare Friday day off, then are home at Serauxmen Stadium on Saturday against the arch-rival Victoria HarbourCats, the seventh game of the RE/MAX Alex Burns Real Estate Island Cup. The two teams play Sunday in Victoria at Wilson’s Group Stadium at RAP, a fireworks night in Victoria, and then revert to Nanaimo on Monday for Canada Day, July 1, and the first-ever on-field post-game FIREWORKS show presented by Kw’umut Lelum Foundation and Maxxam Insurance.

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Tate Shimao reached base four times, improving his average to .458 on the season (Photo: @JustinPMorash)

June 27, 2024

For immediate release

VICTORIA, B.C. – The Victoria HarbourCats made it two wins from two against the Port Angeles Lefties, winning 8-4 Thursday night.

Lefties starter Jack Joyce was struggling to find the zone and the HarbourCats took advantage to get on the board early. Joyce walked the first run in and hit three batters in the inning. Lucas Ramirez (Tennessee) drove in his second run of the season on a sacrifice fly, capping off a two-run opening frame.

Jack Finn (Illinois State) started his fourth game of the season and kept the Lefties batters in check for the first three innings. In the fourth inning, the Lefties scored two runs on an infield single with some heads-up baserunning by Jack Kleveno. That was followed by a Kosei Suzuki RBI single to put the Lefties ahead 3-2.

BOX SCORE

Shimao celebrates his first triple of the season (Photo: @JustinPMorash)

Jack Finn completed four innings, his longest outing of the season, striking out one batter.

The HarbourCats answered right back in the bottom half of the inning. Jake Haggard (ULM) extended his hit streak to four games with an RBI single to tie the game 3-3. Tate Shimao (Hawaii) continued his hot start in a Cats uniform, giving his team a 5-3 lead with a two-run triple. Ramirez, who reached base three times in the game, made it 6-3 with an RBI single.

LEAGUE STANDINGS

Sky Collins went 2-5 with an RBI single in the fifth to make it 7-3, improving his average to .308 on the season.

Shimao got the fans on their feet in the sixth, hitting a home run over the left field fence extending the lead to 8-3. The second baseman drove in four runs and now has nine RBI’s in seven games.

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It was all smiles in the HarbourCats dugout tonight as they put up 11 hits (Photo: @JustinPMorash)

Cade Rusch (IUS) and Logan MacNiel (Campbellsville) pitched a scoreless inning each in relief. Dustin Davidson (Brookhaven) made his fifth appearance of the season, giving up one run.

Jake Finkelstein (Montana State) came into the game in the seventh inning and closed the game out from there recording the last eight outs. The lefty gave up zero runs on zero hits, striking out two.

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Ny’Zaiah Thompson (Cal State Fullerton) extended his on-base streak to 22 games with a single and also made a trademark diving catch in the fifth inning.

Tomorrow’s 6:35 PM game against the Lefties is Taylor Swift night! The winner of the Taylor Swift concert tickets will be announced at the game, thanks to Maxxam Insurance! Don’t miss your last chance to win! Get tickets at http://harbourcats.com/tickets, by coming to the office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street in advance, or by calling 778-265-0327.

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