VICTORIA — Port Angeles earned a series win in the first cross-Strait of Juan de Fuca matchups with friendly rivals the Victoria HarbourCats in three years, while also earning the team’s first official West Coast League wins of the summer Wednesday and Thursday.
Port Angeles took Thursday’s matinee contest 4-1 in a game played in front of nearly 4,600 Victoria fans as part of the HarbourCats’ annual school-kids game.
Lefties second-baseman Gabriel DeJesus singled and scored Alex Zang to tie the game up at 1-1 in the top of the third.
The score remained deadlocked until the seventh, when the Lefties took the lead for good. Ian Winterhalder led off the inning with a single on an 0-2 count and later came home to score on Will Isaly’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Jesh Leckey then came home on DeJesus’ second hit of the contest for a 3-1 lead.
Leckey added an insurance run in the Lefties’ final turn at-bat, singling to lead off the inning and advancing to score on two HarbourCats errors.
DeJesus, a Yakima product who played at Wenatchee Valley the past two seasons, went 3-for-5 to lead the Lefties at the plate, also swiped two bags on the basepaths and led the team with four put-outs from his spot at second base.
Lefties starting pitcher Hunter Kirkpatrick (San Diego Community College) yielded a second-inning run and all four HarbourCats hits on the day, but he went a serviceable 4 2/3 innings on the hill, with three strikeouts and a walk.
Kirkpatrick yielded to Fordham University’s Trey Maeker and Maeker was unhittable in his three innings, striking out four and walking one to earn the win.
Megum Fukuda, a Japanese-born player who plays for New Mexico Military Institute, earned the save by closing out the final 1 1/3 innings.
Shortstop Riley Parker (Cal State San Bernadino) continued his hot start with his second double of the season and is hitting .500 (5-for-10) with two RBIs and two walks.
Wednesday’s game
Port Angeles poured in eight runs over the final four innings and held back a late Victoria charge for a 9-6 win Wednesday night.
Leadoff hitter Derek Bough (Cal State San Bernadino) earned a free pass in all five of his plate appearances, scoring twice, as the Lefties took advantage of 15 HarbourCats walks.
Three other Port Angeles batters were hit by pitches on a wild night from Victoria’s pitching staff.
The Lefties only produced three hits on the night.
Parker, batting cleanup for the Lefties, was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
DeJesus also drove in a run on an RBI single.
Utah Valley’s Andrew Hauck earned the win in relief, allowing one run while scattering six hits across four innings on the mound.
Isaly closed out the game, struggling through his inning and allowing three runs on two hits and a walk.
Port Angeles (2-1) hosts the expansion Kamloops NorthPaws for a three-game series tonight through Sunday at Civic Field. Game times are 6:35 p.m. tonight and Saturday and 1:35 p.m. Sunday.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at mcarman@peninsuladaily news.com.
