Above Photo: Hudson Shupe tags out a Nanaimo runner after a cannon from behind the plate by Russell Young (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

By Thomas Wilke

Victoria, BC ~ Victoria’s late inning pitching woes came back to bite them once more, as Flynn Ridley’s blown save in the top of the ninth allowed the Nanaimo Bars to overcome a one run deficit and hand Victoria a disheartening 8-6 defeat at home Thursday night in West Coast League action at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park.

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The Nanaimo win prevented the HarborCats from taking their first series sweep of the season, as the ‘Cats defeated Nanaimo in the first two games of this series, back on June 7th and 8th, before the game on June 9th was rained out, necessitating tonight’s game.

A former HarbourCat, Garrett Goodall, the ‘Cats 2018 Pitcher of the Year, got the nod on the bump for the Bars this evening and was steaming straight through the Victoria lineup for the first five innings. He gave up just five hits through that span while walking none and allowing just one run, but then the ‘Cats got to him for four runs in the sixth, knocking him out of the game at that point.

Garrett Goodall was lights out until the sixth inning for Nanaimo (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

On the other hand, Victoria sent Loreto Siniscalchi to the mound, who was coming off a strong five inning, two earned run performance last time out against Portland. After a 1-2-3 first inning, Loreto was forced to leave the game after appearing to suffer an injury in the top of the second. This coming after he had surrendered a single and two walks to begin the inning, with all three of those baserunners coming in to score.

Loreto Siniscalchi unfortunately was forced to leave the game with an apparent injury in the top of the second (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

After the sixth inning, Victoria carried a one run lead, which would quickly evaporate after Tim Holyk grounded out to short, which allowed Marcus Steen to score for the Bars and level the game at five. Jesse Brown wasn’t going to let that stand for long, and after a fantastic at bat, sent Roberto Gonzalez across the plate on a base hit to stake the ‘Cats to another lead.

Colten Moore picks up a base hit on Thursday evening (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

Unfortunately for Victoria, things would fall apart in the ninth inning, a carbon copy of earlier games this season, which lead to many a gray hair in the HarbourCat dugout. Flynn Ridley came out of the pen to shut the door on Nanaimo, but instead allowed three runs, giving the Bars a two run lead in the ninth which would nail the HarbourCats coffin shut. 

Jace Walker gets congratulations after a stellar performance out of the bullpen (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

What’s Next?

Victoria will play host to the Kamloops NorthPaws for a weekend three game series. It is a jam packed week of special games for the Cats who tomorrow (the 8th) will be playing a special Military Appreciation game before hosting; Dodd’s Community Day, Used.ca’s Paint the Park Purple and Harvey the HarbourCats birthday on Sunday. Get your tickets to any or all of these games at harbourcats.com/tickets.