Above Photo: HarbourCats players celebrate their win over Edmonton to go to the playoffs (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

Victoria, BC ~ The Victoria HarbourCats used three unbelievable pitching performances from; Nick Taylor, Ben Smedshammer and Jack Seward to slam the door on the Edmonton Riverhawks and win 3-1 to send them to the postseason on Sunday afternoon at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park in WCL action. 

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Victoria came into the day knowing that they needed a win in order to go to the playoffs, and their pitching staff responded with arguably their best and most inspiring performance of the year. 

Nick Taylor got the start on the mound for the Cats and was about as dominant as he possibly could’ve. Nick is a newcomer to the team as he joined the Cats a couple of weeks ago and was entrusted with taking the Cats to the promised land. He was stellar, giving up five hits and one run over six innings while striking out five.

Nick Taylor on the mound for the Cats pitched a stellar game (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

Nick would then hand things off to Ben Smedshammer who also decided it was time to dominate. Ben only surrendered a bloop hit in two innings of work while striking out three. Jack Seward was then handed the reins in the ninth inning to close things down. Jack has been lights out this year and although he walked the first two batters, he then set the next three down on strikes to bring the Victoria crowd of over 3,000 to their feet.

HarbourCats players leave the field feeling insirped after winning the most important game of the summer (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

The Cats picked up their three runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings after a RBI double in the fourth from Josh Walker and an RBI single from Noah Sudyka later that inning. In the fifth it was Russell Young bringing Grady Morgan home on a base hit to make it 3-1.

Grady Morgan at the dish for the Cats in the early innings of Sunday afternoon (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

That was all that the HarbourCats would need and it proved to be more than enough with the other worldly pitching from their staff on Sunday afternoon. Russell Young picked up two hits and Nick Lee continued to swing a hot bat by securing two hits as well.

Russell Young picked up two important hits and threw out a runner on Sunday afternoon (Photo: Christian J Stewart)

What’s Next?

Victoria will host the Bellingham Bells in game one of the first round of the West Coast League playoffs in the North Division semi final on Tuesday night at 6:35 pm. Get your tickets now at harbourcats.com/tickets pop into the HCats office at 1814 Vancouver Street to secure your spot.