Van Beek and Co. dominate in Bells shutout

Nathan Van Beek continued his strong season giving up only one hit and shutting out the Port Angeles Lefties through four innings.

Nate Kirkpatrick got the party started, pulling a ball deep enough into left field to give Cole Yoshida plenty of time to score and give the Bells an early 1-0 lead.

The game opened up in the third inning. After an overthrow by the Lefties second baseman placed Coleman Schmidt on 2nd base with one out, he was able to get in better scoring position after stealing 3rd base, which allowed a sacrifice by Riley Parker to score Schmidt. The scoring didn’t stop there. Andrew Valdez made his return to the lineup after an off-day and made his presence felt in his second at-bat. Connecting with a breaking ball that was 101 mph off his bat and sent over the left field wall for a home run. Extending the Bells lead to 3-0.

In the following inning, the scoring didn’t stop. Kirkpatrick came through again in an RBI scenario, blasting an 0-1 pitch right back up the middle to easily score Max Hartman.

Ty Saunders came on in relief for Van Beek’s excellent start. Providing two innings of shutout pitching himself and only allowing one hit in the process.

Extra support would come from the Bells offense when Daryl Ruiz scorched a fly ball that hit off the wall in right-center, scoring one runner and putting another on third base. On the next pitch, Cole Yoshida sent a line-drive RBI single up the middle to put the Bells in front with a commanding 6-0 lead.

New additions to the team, PJ Wendler, Liam O’brien, each provided an inning of relief without allowing a run. Aaron Herst, was given the ninth inning and was able to complete the shutout to give the Bells the 6-0 victory.

The Bells are firing on all cylinders as the season is coming to a close. The Bells (30-16) have an opportunity to sweep Port Angeles (12-35) in Sunday’s matinee action at 1:05 p.m.

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