The Bells defeated the Cowlitz Black Bears by a final score of 3-2 on Thursday night. Bellingham finished the regular season with a 24-24 record.

Cowlitz scored first in the bottom of the 3rd off of starter Jacob Kaepernick (4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K). After a single and a double with one out, Rikuu Nishida got the Black Bears on the board with an RBI single. Kaepernick bounced back with a double play to end the inning.

Kaepernick was relieved by James Spickelmier (2.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) in the 5th. The Bells had notched just two hits to that point offensively.

Bennett Lee led off the 6th with a hit by pitch. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch, and to third on a flyout by Luis Aviles. Garner Christianson then drew a walk to put runners at the corners. With AJ Davis at the plate, Christianson attempted to steal second. After the throw to down, Lee took off from 3rd and successfully stole home to tie the game.

Spickelmier allowed the first three batters to reach before recording two bases-loaded outs in the bottom of the 6th. The go-ahead run came in on a wild pitch before he struck out the side.

Trailing 2-1, Aviles led off the 8th with a walk. He advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt that flew into right field. Christianson then scored him on a sacrifice fly to tie the game. AJ Davis then drew a walk, and he advanced to third on an identical error as Aviles. Malakhi Knight scored him with a sacrifice fly to take the lead.

Noah Ferguson (2.o IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) earned the win and Trevor Barth (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) earned the save.

The Bells will be hosting the Yakima Valley Pippins on Saturday night for a WCL Divisional Playoff game. Tickets for the playoffs can be found at. www.bellstickets.com.