By Joe Traub
Port Angeles Lefties
PORT ANGELES — Victoria first baseman Griffin Paxton homered twice and drove in five runs to lead his HarbourCats to an 11–2 victory over the Port Angeles Lefties on Wednesday evening at Civic Field. With the defeat, the Lefties were officially eliminated from West Coast League playoff contention.
The HarbourCats jumped out to a commanding lead for the second straight night, scoring five runs in the first inning led by Paxton’s two-run homer. Port Angeles had an answer in the bottom half, as Dylan Cyr doubled home the only two runs the team would score on the evening.
Paxton highlighted a four-run third inning with a three-run blast, then Nick Adams and Nick Plaia each singled home runs in the seventh.
Normal center fielder Gavin Rork worked the ninth on the mound for the Lefties and allowed two hits but fired a scoreless frame.
Despite losing key players Frankie Scalzo, Justin Fugitt, A.C. Chavez, C.J. Schauwecker, Nick DiPonzio, Baxter Halligan, Ethan Groff, Matt Christian, Alex Garcia, Carter Loewen, Michael Buchanan and Kyle Hamrick in the last three weeks, the Lefties remained in contention until the fifth-to-last game of the season.
Port Angeles can still achieve its first winning season in the franchise’s three-year history. They will finish over .500 if they take three of the final four games.
The Lefties and HarbourCats head to Victoria today as Port Angeles plays the final three games of the six-game home-and-home series and 54-game WCL regular season.
Victoria 11, Port Angeles 2
VIC. 5 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 — 11 15 0
PA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 4 3
WP: MacDonald LP: Robinson
Pitching
Victoria — MacDonald 5IP, 2H, 2ER, 2BB, 11K; Hilton 3IP, H, BB, 4K; Pettit IP, H, BB.
Port Angeles — Robinson 6IP, 10H, 9R, 5ER, 4BB, K; Seibel 2IP, 3H, 2ER, 3BB, K; Rork IP, 2H.
Hitting
Victoria — Paxton 3-5, 2 HR, 2R, 5RBI; Sherick 3-4, 2 2B, 2R; Wilson 2-5, 2B, 2R; Adams 2-3, R, 2RBI.
Port Angeles — Cyr 1-1, 2B, RBI; Altomarie 1-3, BB, R; Quinton 2-4.
________
Compiled from team reports. Email scores to [email protected] or phone 360-417-3525.
