Brett Haggerty took the team on his back to pull out a win with a three-run shot. (Photo courtesy of Maevis Photography)
Lefties win and show dominant force
Written by: Ryan Wike
Port Angeles was looking for a spark on offense.
The team had gone 12 games without a home run and was on a five-game losing streak.
Enter Brett Haggerty (Yakima Valley College). Haggerty himself was looking for a jolt into his bat, looking to find the stroke from his college season where he hit .290 and slugged seven homers.
Haggerty came up with two runners on in the second inning and gave the Lefties the shot they needed, knocking his first homer of the year over the wall for a three-run shot.
Those runs were all that Port Angeles needed, beating the Kamloops NorthPaws 3-2.. The Lefties always seem to be a little more collected in game two when on the road, and Wednesday night was a testament to that.
The Lefties staff came out and kept rolling as starter Jackson Price (Transfer Portal) went five scoreless innings and struck out seven. Price has been amazing all year for the Lefties, appearing in seven games with five starts. The righty has struck out 28 and has an ERA of 2.31 in WCL play, one of the lowest on the team.
But the bullpen continued its new look tonight on top of the stellar start from Price, sending five additional pitchers in relief. The staff totalled 11 strikeouts and only allowed two runs. This new way to attack teams — sending a multitude of pitchers for shorter outings — may be new this year, but it has been used in previous years and has proven successful.s.
Beyond Haggerty at the plate, it seemed to be a similar show for the team offensively. Jeremy Giesegh (Cal State San Bernardino) and Yahir Ramirez (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) both had multi-hit nights. But what the numbers don’t show is the Lefties were tattooing balls all night and only struck out five times at the plate.
Giesegh — hitting out of the cleanup spot for Port Angeles — was one of the runners who scored on Haggerty’s homer, along with Travis Helm (Central Washington University). The Cal State San Bernardino product scored his 22nd run of the season, which is 11th most in the WCL.
The Lefties have a rubber match on tap, with game three at 6:35 to see if some of those hard hit balls will fall and see if the Lefties can win the series in Kamloops.
