VICTORIA, B.C. — The Lefties broke out of their minislump in a big way, getting a grand slam and a solo home run from Matthew Christian and romping over the HarbourCats 10-4.
The Lefties were coming off a three-game sweep by the Cowlitz Black Bears that dropped Port Angeles out of first place. They bounced back in a big hurry Friday, getting a grand slam from Christian and a two-run singe from Evan Pace in the third inning. They tacked on three more in the fifth on a solo shot from Christian and RBI singles by Baxter Halligan and newcomer Jason Dicochea (Santa Clara) to take a commanding 9-0 lead.
Dicochea had a great game in his first outing as a Leftie. He went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base.
With his two home runs and five RBIs, Christian is now batting 10 for 34 on the season (.294) with nine RBIs, which leads the West Coast League.
Drew Minter also went 2 for 4 and Marcus Lydon (Seattle), also in his first Lefties game, went 2 for 3 for the Lefties. Pace finished 1 for 3 with a run, a walk and two RBIs while Halligan finished 1 for 3 with a run, a stolen base, a walk and an RBI.
Avery Santos picked up the victory for the Lefties, going five innings and giving up no earned runs on three hits, a walk and three strikeouts.
The Lefties (7-6) jumped back into second place in the North Division, a game behind Bellingham. The Lefties played Saturday evening at Victoria after press deadline. They next play at 1 p.m. today at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria.
Lefties 10, HarbourCats 4
Lefties 0 6 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 — 10 15 0
HCats 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 — 4 7 0
WP: Santos LP: Brunning
Pitching
HarbourCats — Brunning 1.1IP, 6ER, 3BB, K; Potter 2IP, 6H, 3ER, 2K; Sharts 2.23IP, 2H, 2BB, 8K; Stevens 1IP, H, ER, 2BB, K; Humphries 1IP, 2K; Friend 1IP, H, K.
Lefties — Santos 5IP, 3H, 0ER, BB, 3K; Dolezal 4IP, 4H, 4ER, 2BB, 2K.
Hitting
HarbourCats — Gibbs 2-2, R, 2RBIs; Brown 1-4; Bigford 1-3; Imwalle 1-3; Green 1-2; Miller 1-4.
Lefties — Christian 2-6, 2HR, 2R, 5RBIs; Dicochea 3-4, 2B, R, RBI, BB, SB; Minter 2-4, SB; Lydon 2-3, Harum 1-3, R, BB, VanDebrake 1-2, R; Wersland 1-2, R; Halligan 1-3, R, RBI; Pace 1-3, R, 2RBI.
