Notes From The Nat

Vancouver bats were all but silent over six innings of tonight’s gameagainst NWL West strugglers the Eugene Emeralds, notcing only two hitsover the first 2/3 of the game. Eugene, on the other hand, managed toscore an early run off starting pitcher Joe Piekarz (left), which put abundantpressure on the C’s as, down south, division co-leading Salem-KaizerVolcanoes put the sword to the Everett Aquasox.

The C’s can’t afford to drop a game right now, with only the divisionwinner going through to the playoffs, so it was little surprise whenthe Canadians bats finally woke from their slumber in the bottom of the7th.

With a single from Justin Sellers to lead-off the innings, JeffBaisley got to base after being tagged by a pitch, and as Haas Prattsac’ed them along, the C’s loaded the bases when Jose Garcia singledthrough the 3rd baseman’s glove, with the ball not moving far enoughoff base to get anyone home.

With Steve Kleen at the plate and one-out down, Kleen quickly fellbehind 0-2 in the count, giving a case of the nerves to all present.

But Kleen wasn’t rattled, watching a pitch inside, and then jumping ona fastball, dispatching it into left field to score Sellers and Baisleyto give the C’s a 2-0 lead.

From then on, it was all Stephen Bryant, pitching two scoreless inningsof relief, before Brad Kilby allowed to Emeralds on base beforestriking out the final two hitters of the night to get the save.

A game we really didn’t deserve to win, but what the hell - we’ll take it!

September 2, 2005
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Eugene 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 Vancouver 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 X 2 6 1 wrap | box | log W: S. Bryant (3-2, 2.93); L: D. Baca (0-1, 10.80); SV: B. Kilby (13) HR: None.

GAME NOTES:
* Joe Piekarz: 6 innings pitched, 4 hits, 1 earned run, no walks and 6strikeouts - way to prove you’re worth another season in the minors,Pikey! stephen Bryant pitched 2 innings giving up no hits and strikingout 3, while Kilby was run-free in the last.

* With the bat… ugh. Other than the resurgent Steve Kleen, who went2-3 with a double and 2 RBIs, everyone else managed either 1 hit or nohits at all. And NOBODY managed to draw a walk all game long. Not one.

* Everett scored 2 runs in the top of the 9th against Salem-Kaizertonight to level scores at 3-3 and take their game to extra innings,but the Volc’s are on a tear and won 4-3 in the bottom of the 10th.

Where is Wes Long? We need you, Long Gone!