Victoria Roady
- Updated: June 29, 2018
The Kelowna Falcons embark on a six-game road trip as they make their way to Vancouver Island for a Canada Day weekend set against the Victoria HarbourCats at Royal Athletic Park.
2018 Season Series
Tuesday, June 12th @ Elks Stadium (13-7 HarbourCats) (BOXSCORE)
Wednesday, June 13th @ Elks Stadium (7-1 Falcons) (BOXSCORE)
Thursday, June 14th @ Elks Stadium (4-3 HarbourCats) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, June 29th @ Royal Athletic Park (6:35 PM)
Saturday, June 30th @ Royal Athletic Park (6:35 PM)
Sunday, July 1st @ Royal Athletic Park (1:05 PM)
2018 Season Series
The Falcons and HarbourCats are wrapping up their season series with this Canada Day weekend set in the capital of British Columbia after Victoria visited the Interior in mid-June. The HarbourCats scored six 10th inning runs to help them to a 13-7 series opening win before an eight inning, one run performance from Jared Akin pushed the Falcons to a 7-1 victory and forced a rubber match. In a game that was tightly-contested throughout, an 8th inning home run from Jeddediah Fagg sealed the victory 4-3 and a series win for Victoria.
A Series Ago
The Falcons come in as the hottest team in the West Coast League, having won their last six games and just finished a perfect 6-0 home stand against Yakima Valley and most recently Port Angeles. The Falcons opened the series with a 6-2 victory before defeating the Lefties with a season-high 12 runs in a 12-6 win. The Falcons picked up their second straight series sweep with a 7-6 win on Thursday night.
The HarbourCats come into the series after having Thursday off after playing a three-game series against the Walla Walla Sweets in which they fell in two of the three contests. The HarbourCats opened the series with a 7-6 win in extra innings on a Jack Smith sacrifice fly in the 11th inning before falling 6-1 in the second game of the series. Walla Walla completed the series win, hanging onto a 9-7 victory after Victoria came back from 9-2 to make it a tight affair.
Inside The Foul Poles
Kelowna:
- The Falcons have matched their season-high win streak from last season at six games heading into this series but sweeping back-to-back series doesn’t happen every year. It’s the first time since the summer of 2012 that the Falcons have swept back-to-back series and now sit just three games behind Bellingham for the North Division lead.
- Everything has been working in the right direction for the Falcons over the last six games but the offence has been producing at an extremely high level, collecting double digit hits in each of their last five games. Kelowna leads the WCL in hitting with a .293 average as a team and also have the lead in getting on base with a .382 on-base percentage.
Victoria:
- The HarbourCats are a dangerous team to watch when getting runners on base, leading the West Coast League in stolen bases at 53 heading into the weekend set. It’s been by committee as well as every player to have played in at least 10 games or more has collected a steal this season with Nate Pecota leading the team with 6 stolen bases.
- One thing that is guaranteed whenever going into a series in Victoria is that there will be a large crowd on hand to take the game in. The HarbourCats have led the WCL in attendance each of the past three seasons and so far this summer have averaged 2,453 fans in the ballpark. The ‘Cats have struggled somewhat on home field, however, with a 5-7 record at Royal Athletic Park this season and have lost each of their last two series on home turf.
Returnees
Kelowna:
P Cal Hehnke (Junior, University of Nebraska-Omaha)
INF Taylor Wright (Freshman, University of Maryland)
INF Matt Voelzke (Sophomore, George Fox University)
OF Lucas Soper (Junior, University of British Columbia)
OF Davis Todosichuk (Junior, Okanagan College)
OF Trent Tinglestad (Sophomore, Everett Community College)
Victoria:
P Claire Eccles (Junior, University of British Columbia)
P Ethan Fox (Junior, Avila University)
OF Hunter Vansau (Junior, Mississippi State)
Who’s Hot
Kelowna:
OF Trent Tinglestad (5’11”, 200 lbs/Marysville, Washington, USA)
The second-year Falcon has been on his own level over the last two games and was a powerhouse of offence for Kelowna in their series sweep of Port Angeles. Tinglestad collected 4 RBI’s in each of the last two games of the series including hammering out a pair of home runs in each of the games as well. The sophomore from Everett CC has overtaken the league lead in RBI’s with 19 heading into the weekend.
INF Drew Williams (6’2”, 190 lbs/Hollister, California, USA)
The newcomer to the Okanagan did not take long to get himself established with the Falcons, collecting three hits in each of his first three games with the team and has 12 hits in his first 23 at-bats. Williams has hits in all five of his games played this summer with Kelowna including a double and seven RBI’s in his first five games of action. While being effective with the bat, Williams has also shown off his versatility in the field having played three different infield positions.
Falcons Bullpen
There hasn’t been one specific player who has stepped up in the bullpen for Kelowna but the entire pitching staff has been almost impossible to score against. Between Isaac Olson’s 5.1 IP on Wednesday and no allowing a run to the shutdown performance against Yakima Valley in 6.2 IP, the bullpen has got it going on. Over the course of the six-game winning streak, the Falcons bullpen has pitched a combined 25 IP with three runs allowed and just 14 hits surrendered during an absolute torrid stretch.
Victoria:
OF Jeddediah Fagg (6’1”, 205 lbs/Gilbert, Arizona, USA)
The junior from Georgia Southern University has found a way of producing for the HarbourCats, leading the team with 3 home runs and is tied for the top spot in RBI’s with 7. Fagg has found his hitting stride as well, posting a .326 average in 46 at bats this season, including hits in 6 of his last 7 games and improved his on-base percentage to an impressive .446 during the summer.
P Tyler Yoshihara (5’11”, 180 lbs/Saratoga, California, USA)
It’s been a strong start to the season for the reliever out of the bullpen as the sophomore from Pomona-Pitzer College has not been scored on yet this summer. Yoshihara has pitched in 12.1 innings over 6 games and has not allowed a single run in that span, including a very strong outing his last time out on June 25th against Walla Walla where he went 4 innings allowing no runs and no hits while walking one batter and striking out four.
P Garrett Goodall (6’1”, 190 lbs/Nanaimo, British Columbia, CAN)
The scheduled starter for Saturday’s game between the Falcons and HarbourCats has been one of the better starting pitchers for Victoria this season. Holding a 1-0 record with a 3.44 ERA, Goodall has also collected 11 strikeouts in 15.2 IP this season and won’t be the first time he is facing off against the Falcons. The Embry-Riddle University sophomore started on June 14th against Kelowna where he went 5.2 IP allowing 3 runs and 6 hits while walking a batter and striking out one.
The Falcons and HarbourCats open their three-game series in the provincial capital on Friday night running through to a Sunday afternoon affair on Canada Day. The games can be heard on the Falcons Broadcast Network with the Voice of the Falcons, Trevor Miller.
PHOTO: Cary Mellon
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