PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Lefties found themselves locked in a pitchers’ duel for four innings, but the dam broke in the fifth through seventh innings as Victoria scored five runs en route to a 5-2 win over the Lefties at Civic Field.
With the loss, the Lefties dropped to .500 in the second half of the West Coast League (7-7), but remain just 2½ games out of first. It was the second loss in a row to the HarbourCats.
Joshua Verkuilen (Cal State, San Bernardino) took the loss, though he pitched well and carried Lefties to a 0-0 tie entering the fifth inning. A pair of errors came back to haunt the Lefties as only two of Victoria’s five runs were earned. Despite the loss, Verkuilen’s ERA dropped to 2.25 on the season. That is good for fourth in the West Coast League.
Verkuilen finished by going five innings, allowing five hits and two walks and no earned runs. He took the loss because Victoria scored two unearned runs in the fifth. He struck out four.
Eric Schumann (Embry-Riddle) and Matt Capel (Edmonds Community College) pitched the final 2⅔, allowing no hits, no runs and two walks.
At the plate, the Lefties managed just six hits. Jared Bujanda (Cal State, Bakersfield) went 2-for-4 with a run scored while Jack Kleveno (Utah) hit a double and walked twice. Kosei Suzuki (Frank Phillips College), Roberto Garza-Nunez (Embry-Riddle) and Eric Valdivia (Chaffey College) all had hits. Ethan Kodama (California, Berkeley) and Jason Leon (Cal State, Bakersfield) had RBIs.
The Lefties (23-28 overall) wrapped up their three-game series against Victoria (6-8 second half, 20-21 overall) on Wednesday night, then play a nonleague game at 6:35 p.m. today against the Everett Merchants.
They then go on a six-day road trip in Canada against Kelowna and Nanaimo.
Victoria 5, Port Angeles 2
Vic. 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 0 — 5 10 2
PA 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 — 2 6 2
WP: Thompson. LP: Verkuilen. SV: Harvey. Pitching
Victoria — Cormier 4.1 IP, 3 H, BB, 2 K; Thompson 2.2 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, K; Harvey 2 IP, 2 H, K.
Port Angeles — Verkuilen 5 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K; McCormack IP, 2 H, ER; Joyce 0.1 3 H, ER; Schumann 1.2 IP BB; Capel IP, BB, K.
Hitting
Victoria — Crossland 2-4, 2B, 2 R; Artzberger 3-4, RBI; Schneider 1-5, R, RBI.
Port Angeles — Bujanda 2-4, R; Kleveno 1-1, 2B, 2 BB.
