The Nanaimo NightOwls ended their eight-game losing streak with a 4-2 win Sunday afternoon against the Bellingham Bells. The Owls, who trailed for most of the game, strung together three runs in the ninth inning to get the victory following their walk-off loss to the Bells the previous night.
Jaidon Matthews kicked things off for the Bells in the first by drawing a leadoff walk, and later tagged up from third on a foul out by Jack Van Remortel to gain an early 1-0 lead. The NightOwls evened it up in the third, when catcher Kobe Sandstrom hit a double to the right field corner, then scored on an infield single by JT Sokolove.
In the fifth, Cody Russell drew a two-out walk and Jaidon Matthews hit a single to set up Easton Amundsen for an RBI single that scored Russell from second, giving the Bells a 2-1 lead. Ryan Beitel exited the game after six innings in which he allowed one run on three hits with 4 K’s.
The NightOwls drew a walk and a single to open the ninth, then Landon Frei hit an RBI single to score Cody Hendriks from second, knotting the game at two. From there, the Owls loaded the bases for Sandstrom, who hit his second double of the game to score two and give them a 4-2 lead.
Elijah Hainline made an appearance in the bottom of the ninth, collecting a pinch-hit double, and later scored on an RBI single by Amundsen. Amundsen went an impressive 5-5 with 2 RBI in his fourth game with the Bells. Bellingham nearly came back, but ended the game with runners on second and third.
With the win, Nanaimo improves to 13-22, while the Bells sit atop their division at 23-12 after the loss. The Bells will make the trip out to Victoria to face the HarbourCats before rematching the NightOwls in Nanaimo July 26-28.