VICTORIA — An early one-run lead held up — for a long time.
The Nanaimo NightOwls put a bit of a hush on the crowd of 5,044 in attendance at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park with a run in the first inning, then nearly hung on for win in a tremendous ballgame played Thursday in Victoria.
The Victoria HarbourCats scraped across runs in the sixth inning and the walkoff in the bottom of the 10th for a 2-1 win over the NightOwls. The game started at 11am for the Mayfair Optometric School Spirit Game and the crowd was loud and hopped up on ice cream and hot dogs.
The HarbourCats (7-5) nearly won it in the bottom of the ninth but had the winning run thrown out at the plate on a great throw by right fielder Mitchell Middlemiss (UBC).
Aiden Russell (San Diego State) was strong in his starting pitching role, going six innings and giving up four hits and one run, that coming in the sixth inning. He struck out eight. Payton Robertson went three scoreless innings, giving up three hits. Venezuelan lefty Richtter Castillo took the loss.
Third baseman Cam Schneider (Fresno State) was 4-5 with the game-winning RBI for Victoria.
The NightOwls (6-6) had eight hits, three of them by third baseman David Draayers (UBC) and two from outfielder Noah Hata (Hawaii Pacific).
The NightOwls now host the Redmond Dudes for evening games on Friday and Saturday, and a 1pm game on Sunday. The Friday game will see skydivers land on the field prior to the game, while Saturday is the now-annual major Blue Jays vacation trip giveaway with YCD Nanaimo Airport. Sunday, a trip to Las Vegas is up for grabs with Nanaimo Mitsubishi.
The next league action for the NightOwls is at home, next week, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday with the Victoria HarbourCats back in the Harbour City as part of the ReMax Generation Alex Burns Real Estate Island Cup, with nine games between the two teams.
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