Port Angeles scored six unanswered runs to snap an eight-game losing streak. (Photo courtesy of Maevis Photography)
Lefties storm their way to win over Kelowna
By: Thomas Johnson
The Lefties are back in the win column.
After going down early, Port Angeles roared back against Kelowna to take the 6-4 win at Civic Field off of strong performances from the bullpen and a four-run sixth inning. The victory broke a string of eight straight losses for the home side, showing resilience across the whole evening.
“It feels great, finally hits falling our way and we’re really starting to gel together,” Roberto Garza-Nunez (Embry-Riddle) said after the win. “Just trust the process and play for another, I think that’s our biggest motivation and it showed tonight.”
Kelowna’s Trey Duffield (Rice University) slugged a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Falcons an early lead, but the Lefties wouldn’t let that stop them, not allowing any more runs until the seventh inning.
Duffield nearly slugged another one, but Kosei Suzuki (Frank Phillips) reached over the left-field wall to rob a home run and shift the momentum back to Port Angeles.
“The biggest motivator tonight was Kosei, for sure, robbing the home run,” Garza-Nunez said. “It’s a different ball game if that didn’t happen … That was a game-saving play.”
The Port Angeles offense started to chip away at the small Kelowna lead in the third inning when Zach Blair (Mount Hood CC) came around to score on a Jason Leon (Cal State, Bakersfield) fielder’s choice after Blair reached base after getting hit by a pitch.
The HBP was just Blair’s first of the evening, as another one an inning later set his season total at seven in West Coast League play. He came into the game tied for fifth in the league in HBPs and will only rise up those rankings after Saturday’s performance.
The Lefties tied it up in the fourth as Jeremy Giesegh (Cal State, San Bernardino) lined a sacrifice fly into left field to send Julio Vasquez Jr. (Henderson State) scampering home. Giesegh did not record a hit tonight, breaking his 10-game hit streak, but did record a walk to carry on his on-base streak.
Brock Mayer (Point Loma Nazarene) tossed 3.2 innings in relief, putting up five strikeouts as he earned the win. Mayer did give up two runs, but only after coming in following Port Angeles’ four-run sixth inning that forced the right-hander to sit for a long time.
“I told myself I wasn’t gonna throw a curveball this summer, so I had to really rely on the cutter,” Mayer said after the game. “Just kinda abusing that pitch and tryna just get it in the zone, hit corners and get guys out in front.”
In the Lefties’ sixth, it was a pair of walks and a string of three straight walks which drove in the runs. Garza-Nunez — as part of a three-hit, two-double day — started off the trio of two-baggers, driving home Jack Kleveno (University of Utah). Leon and Colin Spear (Transfer Portal) continued the string, with Leon driving in two and Spear knocking home Leon.
“A lot of stress was relieved, of course,” Garza-Nunez said. “But something all the coaches and all my teammates were helping me [with] was keep hitting the ball in play, eventually it’ll fall. You can’t control where it goes at the end of the day, but it just feels good at the end of the day to help contribute to the team win.”
Joshua Verkuilen (Cal State, San Bernardino) and Kole Acker (Port Angeles High School, Uncommitted) closed out the game, combining for three innings and no earned runs. Acker was on the mound to close out the game, finishing off the six-out save.
The Lefties will take on the Kelowna Falcons one more time, then face the Redmond Dudes for a non-league game before taking on the Victoria HarbourCats on the road.
