The Bellingham Bells beat the Kamloops NorthPaws 8-2 on June 18 at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham, Wash. The Bells extended their hot streak to now four straight wins and opened up a three-game series against Kamloops at home.

Right out of the gates the Bells attacked the NorthPaws starting pitcher Dominic Giustino. Giustino’s command struggled as he walked five batters and gave up one hit to the seven batters he faced. The Bells scored five runs with walks scoring the first two which forced a pitching change with the bases loaded. Anthony Kodama faced off against Chase Taylor out of the NorthPaws bullpen and Kodama ripped a triple to clear the bases and put the Bells up 5-0.

“I hit one hard and it hit the gap and luckily the bases were loaded,” Kodama said.

The Bells added one more run in the bottom of the second when Nate Kirkpatrick hit his seventh double of the season. Kirkpatrick would trade places with Jacob Mejia who hit a double to score Kirkpatrick and give the Bells and starting pitcher Josh Flaugher a 6-0 lead.

Flaugher would go four innings in his start and allow just two hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Flaugher is still yet to allow an earned run in 11 innings and has now totaled 10 strikeouts. 

“Flaugher’s a great athlete, he mixes his pitches well and he’s a competitor,” Bells head coach Bob Ralston said.

In the sixth inning the Bells would further add to their cushion with Jacob Mejia scoring on a balk by Ethan Stout, Mejia had reached on a fielder’s choice. The final Bells run came in the seventh inning when Noah Albanese scored on a passed ball after reaching on a hit by pitch.

Tonight saw the debut of three new Bellingham Bells position players. Roman Martin and Cade Slayton saw their debuts in the field with Martin leading off at shortstop and Slayton subbing in for Nate Kirkpatrick at third base later in the game. The other batter who made his home debut was Albanese coming in for Mallonee in center field and seeing one at-bat where he was hit by a pitch.

“We had a lot of new guys today. Nice to see some new faces. They picked up right away that the energy for our team and our fans is higher than anything they’ve seen before,” Kodama said.

As far as pitching debuts go, four new pitchers debuted for the Bells. All the pitchers appeared in relief with Nic Peterson pitching the fifth, Peter Storjohann the sixth, Tyler Van Dyke the seventh, and Will Goldberg the eighth. Goldberg was the only pitcher to allow a run with two earned runs scoring against him on three hits and a walk.

The Bells were led by Kodama’s 2 for 4 day with three RBI. Kirkpatrick went 3 for 3 with a double and a walk. Jacob Mejia also extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 1 for 3 performance with an RBI.

The win would go to Caleb Cassie in a committee game where Cassie performed the best by striking out the side in the ninth inning securing an 8-2 victory.

It was a dominant win for the Bellingham Bells to pick up the first win of a three-game series against the Kamloops NorthPaws. The Bells have now won four straight and look to pick up the series win tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. at Joe Martin Field.

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