Bells pitchers near perfect in 8-3 win over NorthPaws

BELLINGHAM — The offense might’ve scored eight runs, but it was the pitching staff that truly impressed during the Bellingham Bells 8-3 win over the Kamloops NorthPaws on Friday, June 19 at Joe Martin Field. Seven innings were pitched perfectly by Bellingham’s pitchers including the first four innings of Charlie Decker’s start.

Decker earned his third win of the summer after a five-inning start. He didn’t allow a baserunner through the first four innings and only surrendered one run in the fifth. Adam Jay pitched two 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and seventh and Aidan Colin closed the game with a perfect ninth inning. There were only two innings where Kamloops had baserunners — the fifth and eighth innings.

The offense went on a four-inning scoring stretch from the third to sixth innings where Bellingham scored seven runs. After a triple from Jaden Jackson, a groundout from Jake Lyall scored the Bells first run in the third inning.

In the fourth inning, Dillon Moss and Noah Cassie scored on an error by Kamloops. Bryce Johnson hit into a double play during the fifth, but a run scored. KG Hattori singled home a run in the sixth and Lyall had a two-RBI single that made it 7-1 at the time.

Jordan Chancellor surrendered a two-run home run to the NorthPaws catcher Keegan Drinkle to make it a 7-3 ballgame entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Cassie brought in an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI groundout.

The Bells won their fifth-straight game and took the first of three games against Kamloops. Lyall led the Bells with two hits and three RBI as his hot hitting continued. Jackson was on base five times and scored three times on his triple and four walks. The Bells had eight hits as a team and drew nine walks at the plate while only striking out twice.

Bellingham aims for a fifth-straight series win in tomorrow’s 6:35 p.m. game. The NorthPaws and Bells then close their three-game series on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Bellingham is at home for its next five games with a three-game series against Port Angeles beginning Tuesday, June 23.