The Bellingham Bells defeated the Victoria HarbourCats 10-8 on Saturday, June 22, at Wilson’s Group Stadium in Victoria, British Columbia. Jason Shedlock had a 4 for 6 night and Conner Smith drove in 3 RBI with his 2 for 5 night.

14 hits were totaled by the Bellingham Bells tonight. Four came from Shedlock, two from Smith, two from Gabe Henderson, two from Nate Kirkpatrick, two from Anthony Kodama and one from Colton Bower and Trent Mallonee.

The team’s 10 runs put up was just enough to outlast a HarbourCats team that got 11 hits themselves for eight runs. Sheldon Egger started the game for three innings but the win would go to Nic Peterson for his four innings of long relief following Egger’s start. 

The Bells put a run up in the second inning on a Mallonee sacrifice fly. The HarbourCats answered with two runs in the bottom of that frame. They would extend their lead in the third inning by a singular run but the Bells would answer in the fifth with three runs. Kirkpatrick picked up an RBI single and Smith had a two-RBI single as well to take a 4-3 lead.

That 4-3 lead didn’t last long as in the bottom of the fifth Victoria tied it at 4-4. An explosive four runs were scored by the Bells in the sixth to go up 8-4. The runs were scored by a Colton Bower two-run home run, a Jacob Mejia sacrifice fly and Shedlock touching home after the HarbourCats tried to throw out Kirkpatrick stealing second base. The Bells exited the sixth inning up 8-4.

One run was added in the seventh and eighth inning on a Henderson RBI single and Smith’s second home run of the season. CJ Bott had some difficulty in the eighth and would not record an out requiring Nick Lewis to come in and finish the eighth after Bott allowed three earned runs to score. Lewis would pitch the ninth inning and earn his first save of the season.

The Bells moved to 13-7 overall and are in a three-way tie for the North Division lead with the Wenatchee AppleSox and the Edmonton Riverhawks. The best record in the North Division after 28 games will receive an automatic playoff berth for the August postseason in the West Coast League.

Tomorrow the Bells and HarbourCats play the rubber game of their three-game series at 6:30 p.m. The Bells will take Monday off and travel to Edmonton for a big three-game series against the Riverhawks that begins Tuesday. Earlier in the season the Bells beat the Riverhawks in three games at Joe Martin Field two games to one with the Bells scoring 21 against Edmonton.

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