PORT ANGELES — With some of their top players taking the game off over the West Coast League All-Star break, the Port Angeles Lefties decided to have some fun moving players around the field in a nonleague game against the Sea Dub Fish Sticks.
The Fish Sticks have a cute name but are a solid member of the Pacific International League, another wooden bat collegiate league. The Sticks were able to beat the Lefties 9-3 on Tuesday. The game was close until the seventh inning when the Sticks scored three runs to open up a 7-3 lead.
The Lefties were without Jeremy Giesegh, who traveled to Bellingham to play in the All-Star game. Giesegh (Cal State, San Bernardino) is leading the WCL with a .361 batting average.
The Lefties also gave the day off to a couple of their other top players — Ethan Kodama of California, Berkeley and Roberto Garza-Nunez (Embry-Riddle), who has been red-hot with three home runs in his past five games.
The game featured a busy day for Travis Helm of Central Washington. He played every position in the field except pitcher and DH, changing each inning. He finished 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored and played an error-free game. He finished with four assists in the field.
A total of six Lefties pitchers allowed just eight hits, but one of those hit was a three-run home run by Hunter Klingelhoffer. The Fish Sticks also stole 10 bases with three different Lefties playing catcher. The Lefties also stranded 15 baserunners.
Riley Ricken (Cal State, San Bernardino), on the roster as a pitcher, played DH for the Lefties, hitting a double and walking. Brock Mayer, also used most of the time as a pitcher, played the outfield and went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a walk.
Kosei Suzuki (Frank Phillips College) also hit a double, drove in a run and stole a base, while Zach Blair (Mount Hood Community College) was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jason Leon (Cal State, Bakersfield) had a hit and an RBI.
Nolan McCormack (Mount Hood CC), Jack Joyce (Mount Hood CC) and Jake Cumming (Nevada) combined to go five innings without allowing a run. McCormack didn’t allow a hit or a walk in two innings pitched, striking out two.
The Lefties (5-4 second half, 11-25 overall) were off Wednesday for the WCL All-Star game. They return to action at 6:35 p.m. today at Civic Field to take on the Redmond Dudes in another nonleague game. They return to WCL action on the road Friday at Bellingham.
The Lefties are 3-3 in nonleague play.
Sea Dub 9, Port Angeles 3
SD 0 0 1 3 0 0 3 0 2 — 9 8 1
PA 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 — 3 7 5
Pitching
Sea Dub — Reece 4.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 4 K; Hagler 4.1 IP, 3 H, BB, K
Port Angeles — McCormack 2 IP, 2 K; Wike 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 K; Joyce 1.1 IP, 3 BB, K; Riggs 1.2 IP, H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Cumming 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 BB; Lopez IP, 2 H, ER, K.
Hitting
Sea Dub — Klingelhoffer 1-3, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB; Garza 2-5 2 RBI; Bailey 1-4, 2 R, RBI.
Port Angeles — Blair 2-4, RBI; Suzuki 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB; Ricken 1-4, 2B, BB; Ramirez 1-4, R, BB; Mayer 1-4, R, BB.
