Box Score | Bellingham Bells Roster | WCL Playoff Schedule

The Bellingham Bells are moving on in the West Coast League Playoffs after a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Riverhawks in the North Division Championship Game Tuesday, Aug 12 at RE/MAX Field in Edmonton, Alberta. The Bells will now face the Portland Pickles in the WCL title game Thursday to try and win Bellingham’s first championship since 2014.

Bellingham stacked pressure against Edmonton’s pitchers tonight and loaded the bases three different times. They finished the game with nine hits and five walks with 12 runners left on base.

The Bells deployed WCL All-Star Devyn Hernandez as the starter and the Riverhawks tagged him for the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. In the top of the fourth, Bellingham tied the game on a wild pitch that scored Noah Meffert, who was on third with the bases loaded.

Edmonton was able to regain a one-run lead scoring off Hernandez, who finished a four-inning start with five hits and two walks allowed for two runs while striking out three. Chihiro Sato relieved the starter and Sato was phenomenal as he earned the win tonight.

The Edmonds College right hander tossed three scoreless innings with no hits or walks allowed and struck out two. Sato only threw 27 pitches, but saw his appearance end due to an 90-minute lightning delay after the seventh inning.

Before the delay, in the top of the seventh the Bells stole the momentum away from the Riverhawks with a three-run crooked number. Rominic Quiban delivered a bases-loaded double that scored two. Up 3-2, Meffert hit a sacrifice fly to finish the inning’s scoring.

After the delay, the Bells put more traffic on in the top of the eighth with a walk and bunt that resulted in Edmonton’s third error of the night. After Andrew Lamb sac bunted to move two into scoring position, Brock Sell scored from third on a wild pitch and the Bells led 5-2.

Josh Flaugher tossed a scoreless eighth with the help of an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play off the bat of former Bell Anthony Kodama. Flaugher struck out one and allowed one hit in his scoreless hold.

The Bells didn’t score in the ninth and put the ball in the hands of Stanford commit Colt Peterson for the save. After a blooping double began the final frame, Peterson retired the next three batters and finished the inning with a Kirkpatrick to Cassie putout that sent Bellingham to the WCL Championship.

Quiban was once again a playoff hero, the right-fielder went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Kirkpatrick was also 2-for-5 and had a double. Meffert got on base three times with a hit and two walks and produced an RBI and a run in the win.

Bellingham will play Thursday against the reigning champion Portland Pickles, who finished a 6-5 comeback win over the Corvallis Knights to host the WCL Championship for the second straight season. Bellingham’s last trip to the WCL Championship was in 2022 where they lost to Corvallis and their last title win was in 2014 with a win over Corvallis.

The Bellingham versus Portland matchup will be the two teams first time meeting this season and the first ever time the two have clashed in a WCL Championship game.

This game recap is presented by Everstrong Physical Therapy and Performance.