By Christian J. Stewart

August 2, 2026

Bellingham, WA –  Bellingham pitchers combined to limit the Victoria HarbourCats to just four hits in a 5-0 Bells win over the HarbourCats in West Coast League (WCL) action Sunday afternoon at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham.

FULL BOX SCORE

The loss gave the Bells a sweep of the three-game series and put a serious damper on the playoff aspirations of the HarbourCats, who now head to Wenatchee to finish the season against the league’s top team and needing at least two or three wins and help from others to secure a spot (more on that below).

The HarbourCats sent WCL Pitcher of the Year candidate Jeremiah Arnett to the mound in this one, but the Bells jumped on him early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first on the strength of three hits, including a two-RBI double from Matt Churchill.

The Bells would score another in the third and two more in the eighth off Arnett, before he left the game and gave way to reliever Davis Lee.

Arnett did finish with four strikeouts to move his season total to 66, which is a new HarbourCats single-season team record.

In the meantime, Bellingham starter Kole Laubach (4 innings pitched) and David Wiser (5 innings pitched) were at the top of their game, allowing no runs on just the four HarbourCats hits, while striking out nine and walking only one.

Offensively for the Bells, Churchill led the way with two hits and three RBI, while Noah Cassie and Tyler Peshke also contributed a pair of hits to the winning effort.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
With the win last night and today, the Bells secure the second seed in the North and will host a first round match-up against whoever finishes third in the North.  At the moment, that team is Nanaimo, who defeated Port Angeles 8-0 to move their record to 28-23. Meanwhile, the Kelowna Falcons registered another comeback win (10-8) over Edmonton to move both of those teams to a record of 27-24 and dropping the Riverhawks into the fourth seed by virtue of holding the direct tie-break over the Falcons.  The HarbourCats, with the loss, drop to 26-25 and are effectively in sixth place at the moment.

So what’s next?  The HarbourCats travel to Wenatchee to play the AppleSox and will need at least two wins there, possibly three, to have a chance at grabbing the third or fourth seed.  The NightOwls will host the Kamloops NorthPaws and need at least one win, possibly two to clinch a spot. Kelowna travels to Port Angeles, where a couple of wins could secure their berth and Edmonton travels to Bellingham, where they will be in tough against the Bells, in the hopes of winning one or two to stay in their current playoff position.

Four teams, within two games of each other, with three games left to play….does it get any better than this?  The possibilities are endless and this author does not event want to attempt the math if there ends up being a four-way tie between these teams.

WCL PLAYOFF PROCEDURES HERE

PLAYOFF TICKETS:  Should  the HarbourCats clinch a playoff spot (which may not be determined until Wednesday), they would host Game 1 of the best of three Divisional Series on Friday August 7th at 6:35 PM.  Tickets for that series will NOT go on sale until a playoff position is confirmed.  Season Ticket holders will be e-mailed their tickets (if we clinch) on Thursday August 6th.

BC DAY FIREWORKS & FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT APPROACHING CAPACITY CROWD! 
Just a note that all reserved seating is effectively sold out for Monday’s fireworks and Fan Appreciation night, the final home game of the regular season. Select single reserved seats, general admission and some VIP area tickets are still available at harbourcats.com/tickets.  If you are holding general admission tickets for this game, gates open at 5:00 pm and you are advised to arrive early to get your best choice of seating.

VOUCHER HOLDERS
With all reserved seating sold out, ALL voucher holders wishing to attend Monday’s game will be issued general admission tickets.  Vouchers must be used Monday and can not be used for playoffs, or carried over into next season.

Source

Loss drops Victoria out of a playoff spot for now, with four games to go.

By Christian J. Stewart

August 1, 2026

Bellingham, WA – The Victoria HarbourCats erased a 7-2 sixth inning deficit with three runs in the eighth inning, but came up just short in a 7-5 loss to the Bellingham Bells in West Coast League action Saturday night at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham.

FULL BOX SCORE

The Bells got things going early in this one, as a Dominic Quiban two-RBI single off Cats starter Daniel Tovar, put the Bells on the board in the bottom of the first inning.

Tovar settled down for innings two and three, but another two-RBI single in the fourth, this time from Bellingham’s Bo Shinkle, gave the Bells a 4-0 lead.

Tovar gave way to Houston Tomlinson in the fifth and he found trouble right away, issuing a pair of leadoff walks, one of which came in to score on an RBI-single from the Bells’ Dillon Moss.

The ‘Cats would keep grinding though and in the top of the sixth a leadoff double by Logan Shepherd and a single from Jacob Silva set the table for Rhone Klein who drove in Shepherd for the ‘Cats first run of the game.  Silva then scored on a ground out by Micael Rodda and the lead was cut to 5-2.

Bellingham got those runs right back in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-RBI double from Nate Johnson, scoring Rashad Hayes (single) and Shinkle (walk) and restoring the five-run lead.

After a quiet seventh, Victoria made the game interesting in the eighth, scoring three runs thanks in part to RBI singles from Silva and Klein, his second RBI of the night.  Another run would score on another Michael Rodda groundout but that would be as close as the ‘Cats would get, with Bellingham reliever Ben McKinnon throwing a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the win.

PLAYOFF WATCH
Things did not go well on the out of town scoreboard for the HarbourCats, as the Nanaimo NightOwls thumped the Port Angeles Lefties 16-1 to move into the third-fourth playoff seed position (tied with Edmonton at 27-23), a full game up on the HarbourCats.  In addition, the Kelowna Falcons staged a late comeback to defeat Edmonton 7-4 and are now tied with the HarbourCats (both 26-24), but by virtue of Kelowna holding the tie break over Victoria, the HarbourCats are now effectively in sixth place.

With four games remaining and four teams vying for the final two playoff positions, anything can happen.

PLAYOFF TICKETS:  Should  the HarbourCats clinch a playoff spot, they would host Game 1 of the best of three Divisional Series on Friday August 7th at 6:35 PM.  Tickets for that series will NOT go on sale until a playoff position is confirmed.  Season Ticket holders will be e-mailed their tickets (if we clinch) on Thursday August 6th.

BC DAY FIREWORKS & FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT APPROACHING CAPACITY CROWD! 
Just a note that all reserved seating is effectively sold out for Monday’s fireworks and Fan Appreciation night, the final home game of the regular season. Select single reserved seats, general admission and some VIP area tickets are still available at harbourcats.com/tickets.  If you are holding general admission tickets for this game, gates open at 5:00 pm and you are advised to arrive early to get your best choice of seating.

VOUCHER HOLDERS
With all reserved seating sold out, ALL voucher holders wishing to attend Monday’s game will be issued general admission tickets.  Vouchers must be used Monday and can not be used for playoffs, or carried over into next season.

Source

Playoff position still in play despite the loss

Story by Christian J. Stewart

July 31, 2026

Bellingham, WA – The Bellingham Bells broke out for 11 hits en route to a 7-2 victory over the Victoria HarbourCats in West Coast League action Friday night at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham.

FULL BOX SCORE

Holding a 2-0 lead on Victoria starter Shea Lake, thanks in part by a solo home run from Jaden Jackson, the Bells broke things open in the fourth inning, scoring three runs on the strength of RBI singles from Nate Johnson and Rominic Quiban and a throwing error by ‘Cats shortstop Riley Kwak.

The Bells would add two more runs in the fifth, both off reliever Leif Friedrich and that was all they would need as Bells pitching, including starter Robby Zimmerman (5IP, 1R, 3H), would hold the ‘Cats to just six hits on the night.

Two of those hits came from Bryan Bradshaw, who also scored one of the HarbourCats runs to lead the Victoria offence.

Another bright spot for the HarbourCats was reliever Tobi Salzmann, who made his WCL debut, pitching the seventh and eighth innings and keeping the Bells off the board in those frames, allowing just one hit.

PLAYOFF WATCH
With the Edmonton Riverhawks defeating Kelowna 8-1, Wenatchee beating Kamloops 6-5 and Port Angeles defeating Nanaimo 8-2, were the playoffs to start tomorrow, Bellingham would hold the second seed in the North, the Riverhawks would hold the third seed and Nanaimo and Victoria would be tied for the fourth seed. However, with their 6-3 record over Nanaimo this year, the HarbourCats would prevail on the tie-breaker and then have a first round match-up with the #1 seed Wenatchee.

There are still five games remaining in the season and anything can happen! Strap in and enjoy the ride!

BC DAY FIREWORKS & FAN APPRECIATION NIGHT APPROACHING CAPACITY CROWD! 
Just a note that all reserved seating is effectively sold out for Monday’s fireworks and Fan Appreciation night, the final home game of the regular season. Select single reserved seats, general admission and some VIP area tickets are still available at harbourcats.com/tickets.  If you are holding general admission tickets for this game, gates open at 5:00 pm and you are advised to arrive early to get your best choice of seating.

VOUCHER HOLDERS
With all reserved seating sold out, ALL voucher holders wishing to attend Monday’s game will be issued general admission tickets.  Vouchers must be used Monday and can not be used for playoffs, or carried over into next season.

Source