The Bellingham Bells won game two against the Edmonton Riverhawks 8-4 on Wednesday, June 26, at RE/MAX Field in Edmonton, Alberta. The Bells totaled eight hits en route to their 14th win of the season. The Bells are now 14-9 and are 2.5 games behind the Wenatchee AppleSox for first place in the North Division with five games left in the first half of the 2024 West Coast League Season.

Last night’s game featured Will Anderson on the bump for his second start in a bullpen style game. Anderson pitched a gem for three innings allowing only one hit and striking out six Riverhawks. In his three innings he did not walk a single batter.

In the top of the first inning the Bells had two outs when their scoring began. The Bells have been consistently putting up two out RBIs and tonight Nate Kirkpatrick extended the inning with a single. Jacob Mejia and Kaikea Harrison walked to load the bases. The starting pitcher for Edmonton, Daniel Orfaly, was struggling with his command and a passed ball by the catcher Russell Young allowed all the runners to move over with Kirkpatrick scoring. Conner Smith would then be walked to an open first base to once again load the bases with two outs. Colton Bower drove in one with a single and Logan Degroot knocked in two with his first hit as a Bellingham Bell. The Bells led 4-0 exiting the first inning.

Edmonton scored their first run against Jack Svinth in the fifth inning to make it 4-1. Svinth would go down as the winning pitcher with one earned run against him in two innings with no walks and one strikeout. The Bells answered with a run of their own in the top of the sixth after Gabe Henderson singled to score Smith who led off with a walk. Henderson took over in the leadoff spot in the sixth for Jason Shedlock and delivered a two hit performance to make it four straight games with two hits for Henderson.

Edmonton chipped away one run in the bottom of the sixth to put the score at 5-2. The run went against Everett Swaim who pitched one inning and gave up just one hit which was a triple for William Vasseur. A scoreless seventh was tossed by Will Goldberg who saw the minimum in that inning.

In the eighth inning both teams would score again. First the Bells put up three runs thanks to Bower leading off with a triple and Degroot reaching on a fielder’s choice. Henderson delivered his second hit of the day to score Bower. Kirkpatrick cleared the runners from first and second on his double to give the Bells an 8-2 lead. Edmonton would score one run against Goldberg which led to Ryan Heppner entering the game and allowing one runner to score who would be earned against Goldberg. Heppner pitched the final five outs of the game with one hit allowed, no walks and three strikeouts.

As a pitching staff the Bells walked only one batter all night. The bullpen game staff also allowed six hits and four runs while striking out 10 Riverhawks batters. The offense was led by Henderson’s 2 for 2 night with two RBI off the bench. Kirkpatrick went 2 for 5 with two RBI and hit his ninth double of the season. Kirkpatrick’s hitting streak was extended to ten straight games. Degroot had one hit and two RBI in just his second game with the team. Colton Bower shined with a 3 for 5 performance including a triple and one RBI.

The Bellingham Bells play the Edmonton Riverhawks in a rubber game at 7:05 p.m. local time (6:05 p.m. PDT). After that the Bells are back home Friday thru Sunday to play the Wenatchee AppleSox so get your tickets at bellstickets.com.

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