The Bellingham Bells lost 6-2 against the Victoria HarbourCats in the final game of their three-game series at Wilson’s Group Stadium in Victoria, British Columbia. The Bells lost the series two games to one and now sit at 13-8 overall and second in the North Division in the West Coast League.

There was a lot of offense in today’s game but runs only came in two innings. Despite 22 overall hits, 10 by the Bells and 12 by the HarbourCats, all eight runs in the game were scored in the second and seventh innings. All six HarbourCats runs began the scoring in the bottom of the second inning against the Bells second pitcher of the game Ethan Unruh in a bullpen game. The HarbourCats scored thanks to multiple extra-base hits against Unruh.

The bullpen game started with Nathan Van Beek before Unruh. In the third inning Jack Svinth took the ball for two scoreless innings followed by two more from Peter Storjohann. It was then in the top of the seventh where the Bells would try to chip away at a 6-0 HarbourCats lead. Colton Bower hit a ground rule double with one out and Gabe Henderson put runners on the corners with a base hit. Jason Shedlock drove Bower home with a single and Nate Kirkpatrick brought Henderson home with a single. 

The bases were loaded in the seventh inning with the tying run at the plate in Roman Martin after Jacob Mejia’s single put him at first base, Kirkpatrick at second and Shedlock at third. Martin would strike out and the Bells RBI leader, Conner Smith, could not bring home any runs as he too struck out to strand the bases loaded.

The two runs in the seventh were all the scoring the Bells would do today. Callum Young took the Ball for two outs in the seventh inning and Ryan Heppner would finish that frame scoreless. Marques Brown pitched the eighth and final inning of pitching as the Bells could not score in the ninth despite a Jacob Mejia single that tried to spark a rally. 

The Bells as a staff would toss eight innings from seven arms with 12 hits allowed, six earned runs scored against, three batters walked to four batters struck out.

Of the Bells 10 total hits: Mejia had three, Henderson and Shedlock had two, Kirkpatrick, Martin and Bower all had one. Henderson also had a double in his 2 for 5 day in the leadoff spot and is now hitting .222 on the season. Mejia is now on a 14 game on-base streak and Kirkpatrick is on an eight game hitting streak. 

The Bells do not play Monday but will resume their road trip on Tuesday in a big three-game series at Edmonton to battle for the division lead at RE/MAX Field in Edmonton, Alberta. Tuesday’s game starts at 7:05 p.m. The Edmonton Riverhawks currently lead the North Division with a 14-7 record and are riding a four game winning streak.

Tonight’s game recap is sponsored by Everstrong Physical Therapy and Performance.