NANAIMO, B.C. — The lights dimmed on Port Angeles’ West Coast League playoff hopes in the wake of a 4-1 and 8-5 7-inning doubleheader loss to the Nanaimo NightOwls at Serauxmen Stadium on Tuesday.
Port Angeles dropped to 10-10 in the second half, 16-31 overall, and sit fifth in the North Division standings, three games behind first-place Wenatchee (13-7) with eight Lefties games remaining.
The four playoff qualifiers in each division are the first-half winner, the second-half winner, and the two teams in the division with the best overall records who did not win the first or second half (or otherwise qualify)
League-leading hitter
In the second game, Port Angeles leadoff hitter Jeremy Giesegh went 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run to raise his batting average to .356, good for fifth overall in the WCL.
Giesegh leads the league with 69 overall hits this summer.
He opened the contest with a base hit and came around to give Port Angeles a 1-0 lead on Roberto Nunez’ RBI single after one inning.
The lead was short lived as a double by Cole Carmichael was the key swing in a four-run second inning that gave the NightOwls a 4-1 lead.
Second baseman Hsu He-Chieh’s double in the third scored two more runs and Nanaimo was out in front 6-2, on the way to an easy win. He-Chieh was 3-for-3 with three runs driven in.
Joshua Verkuilen struggled on the mound, allowing six earned runs on five hits and five walks with one strikeout in 2.2 innings for Port Angeles.
Jake Fleury earned the win for Nanaimo, going six innings, scattering seven hits and striking out six — with no walks. Ryan Inouye pitched the final inning.
The Lefties managed just four hits and three walks in the doubleheader opener versus the pitching trio of Moosa Nonomiya, Lawson Minshew and Li Sih-te as the NightOwls raced out to a 3-0 lead.
Port Angeles chipped back one run in the top of the third when catcher Jack Kleveno opened with a leadoff walk, advanced on the bases on Jared Bujanda’s base hit and eventually came home to score on a Yahir Ramirez sacrifice fly.
Roughriders product John Vaara was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs, three earned, on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in four innings.
Vaara has a 3.89 ERA in 34 innings pitched this summer.
Nanaimo 8, Port Angeles 5
Port Angeles 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 — 5 9 0
Nanaimo 0 4 2 0 1 1 X— 8 7 1
WP: Fleury LP: Verkuilen
Pitching
Port Angeles — Verkuilen 2.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, K; Schumann 2.1 IP, H, ER, BB, K; Sato IP, H, ER, K.
Nanaimo — Fleury 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 6 K; Inouye IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 K.
Hitting
Port Angeles — Giesegh 4-4, R, RBI; Nunez 1-3, RBI; Suzuki 0-2, 2 RBI, SF; Helm 2-3, 2 R; Bujanda 1-2, R.
Nanaimo — Hata 1-3, RBI; Kahler 1-4, RBI; Carmichael 1-3, 2B, R, RBI; He-Chieh 3-3, R, 3 RBI.
Nanaimo 4, Port Angeles 1
Port Angeles 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 2
Nanaimo 2 1 0 1 0 0 x— 4 7 2
WP: Minshew LP:Vaara SV: Sih-te
Pitching
Port Angeles — Vaara 4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; McCormack 2 IP, K.
Nanaimo — Nonomiya 2.2 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, K; Minshew 2.1 IP, 2 BB, K; Sih-te 2 IP, H, K.
Hitting
Port Angeles — Giesegh 1-4, Ramirez 1-3, SF, RBI; Leon 1-3; Bujanda 1-3; Kleveno 0-2, BB, R. .
Nanaimo — Kahler 2-3, 2B, R, RBI; Hata 1-2, R; Felix 1-3, RBI.
