Victoria, B.C. – The HarbourCats welcomed the Bend Elks to Victoria this evening with a monumental 18-5 takeover to start the series off right.

Although the Elks opened the scoring with a single to centre field in the top of the second, the Cats answered back quickly in the bottom half of the frame. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Bryan Bradshaw (UCSD) dug in for a sacrifice fly, driving in Rohne Klein (San Jose State) from third and tying the game at one apiece.

BOX SCORE

Cats starter and freshly-crowned All-Star Erik Rico (Fresno State) called it a night after three solid innings of work. Rico allowed one run and struck out seven to push his league-leading strikeout count to 40. Flynn Warren (Hawaii Pacific) filled the gap for the fourth, striking out two before letting one batter get away and surrendering a two-run homer. The New Zealand product eventually got the final out he needed, but not before the Elks took a 3-1 lead.

Erik Rico’s league-leading 40 strikeouts are just part of the reason he was selected as a WCL All-Star. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Warren returned for the fifth and gave up a solo homer, but that was the only damage sustained before the Cats defence returned to the dugout down by three.

Victoria finally found some contact in the bottom of the fifth, putting runners on the corners with nobody out once again. A Bend throwing error allowed a run to come in, but a big baserunning mistake by the Cats led to the Elks getting two outs on the play as well.

Inning the sixth showed yet more promise for the HarbourCats, as a couple of early base knocks made it – stop me if you’ve heard this before – runners on the corners with nobody out. The home side continued to put wood on the baseball, eventually bringing in five runs on base hits from Rohne Klein, Tristan Buehring (Whitman), and WCL All-Star David Krahn (UBC). Unsatisfied with a one-run lead, Matt Westley (George Mason) stepped up to the plate with two outs and banished a baseball to the great unknown, busting the game wide open with a three-run homer to make it 10-5.

Matt Westley’s home run was a back-breaker for the Elks. (Photo by JPM Photography)

Patience was the name of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Elks walked the bases loaded and bounced a pitch in front of the plate that allowed Jacob Silva (UTSA) to score. Tristan Buehring followed that up with an RBI single, and David Krahn obliterated his seventh homer of the season. 15-5 for the Cats with two innings to go.

The Cats kept the pressure on, adding a Rohne Klein homer for good measure before Spencer Kratt closed out a three-inning relief appearance, securing a much-needed blowout win for the good guys.

WCL STANDINGS

The HarbourCats are back on the hunt tomorrow night for the second of three games this week against the Elks.

Single game tickets for all HarbourCats games are now on sale at http://harbourcats.com/tickets. Season tickets, 12-pack and 32-pack game vouchers may also be bought online or by stopping by the HarbourCats office at 101-1814 Vancouver Street.

GET YOUR ALL-STAR TICKETS BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!  Tickets for the 2026 WCL All-Star Home Run Derby (featuring former Blue Jay Kevin Pillar) and the West Coast League All Star Game on July 14-15 are selling fast.  Get yours today! Each event is now on sale separately, or grab the package deal for both and save a few bucks at http://harbourcats.com/tickets! Or call the office at 778-265-0327 to order by phone.