PORT ANGELES — The West Coast League North Division-leading Port Angeles Lefties (4-2) will take the Civic Field diamond tonight at 6:35 p.m. against the Bellingham Bells.
Port Angeles ascended to the top of the North standings with an 8-1 win over Bend that wrapped up a dominating three-game road sweep of the Elks.
The Lefties poured on 34 runs in the three contests while allowing just Bend to score just seven runs.
Port Angeles starter DJ Sutorious went six innings on the mound, striking out seven, while allowing one run on four hits and a walk.
He was staked to an early lead when the Lefties scored five runs in the top of the second.
Kyle Schimpf was 2 for 4 with a double and was hit by a pitch for a West Coast League-leading sixth time this season. He added a run and an RBI on the night.
Dalton Harum doubled twice and scored twice; designated hitter Baxter Halligan singled, walked and scored twice and David Bedgood added an RBI single for the Lefties.
Game times for the weekend series are 6:35 p.m. today for Pirates in the Park Night a celebration of Peninsula College and Saturday (Cal Ripken Day where kids in baseball or softball uniforms will receive free admission).
Sunday’s game has a 3:05 p.m. start time and will feature Nor’Wester Rotary Bingo.
Port Angeles 8, Bend 1
Lefties 0 5 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 — 8 10 0
Elks 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 6 0
WP: Sutorious LP: Crowson
Pitching
Lefties — Sutorious 6IP, R, 4H, BB, 7K; Reynolds 2IP, H, BB, K; Busse IP, H, K.
Elks — Crowson 1.2IP, 5R, 3H, 2BB, 2K; Muskat 3.1IP, 0R, 5H, BB, 4K; Embree IP, K; Crosby IP, 3R, 2H, BB, K; Boone IP, BB, K; Patterson IP, BB, 2K.
Hitting
Lefties — Allie 3-3, BB, R, 2RBI; Harum 2-5, 2 2B, 2R; Halligan 1-2, BB, 2R; Bedgood 1-3, RBI; Schimpf 2-4, HP, 2B, R, RBI.
Elks — Warkentin 2-3, BB.
Two Lefties’ alums drafted
Sean Roby and Alex Junior, members of the first Port Angeles Lefties team last summer, were selected in the Major League Baseball Draft on Wednesday.
Roby, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound third baseman from Arizona Western College was taken in the 12th round by the San Francisco Giants.
“I was surprised and it still hasn’t hit me yet, I can’t explain how I feel,” the 19-year-old Roby, a native of Indio, Calif. told his hometown newspaper The Desert Sun.
“I feel good and this gives me some confidence going in,” he added. It’s my dream to play Major League Baseball, so I’m just going to go in there, be confident and do what I can.”
Junior was taken in the 19th round by the New York Yankees.
He is a senior outfielder and leadoff hitter for Tennessee Tech which faces Texas in the NCAA Super Regional Saturday (noon Saturday on ESPN2).
Sporting a slash line (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) of .326/.458/.494. In just under 250 at-bats this season, Junior has walked 49 times, and struck out only 50 times.
Junior is currently second in the NCAA with 1.37 runs scored per game.
Lefties in NCAA tourney
Two members of the 2017 Port Angeles Lefties are alive in the NCAA college baseball Super Regional Round.
Alex Junior and 2017 West Coast League All-Star catcher Benny Kaleiwahea of upstart Tennesse Tech will take on NCAA powerhouse Texas on Saturday at noon on ESPN2.
Kaleiwahea was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference second team after posting a .391 batting average with 15 doubles, 46 RBIs and 61 runs during the regular season.
Tennessee Tech (52-10) is the first Ohio Valley Conference team to reach the NCAA Super Regional Round (final 16 teams). The Golden Eagles, with an athletics budget of 14.5 million, knocked out Ole Miss, with an athletics budget of 110 million, from the NCAA Tournament last weekend.
