The West Coast League regular season has come to an end, and the playoff-bound Bellingham Bells won their final three-game series Aug. 4–6 on the road at the Port Angeles Lefties at Civic Field.
Bellingham (35-18) finished the second half of the season 15-11 and won 12 of its final 15 games — a trend that has the team feeling confident heading into the playoffs.
“We’re playing a real good brand of baseball,” Bells head coach Jim Clem said. “It’s been a great season overall … things just didn’t fall right during those games [early in the second half of the season], that’s all.”
The Bells will face the Kelowna Falcons in the three-game WCL North Division first round, a team they haven’t faced since June 22. Bellingham went 4-2 against Kelowna in the regular season.
Clem said Kelowna’s roster has changed a lot since then — similar to their own — and the Bells won’t know the Falcons’ lineup until the first game. Bellingham’s pitching staff has had a lot of turnover, but position players and hot bats have remained mostly in place throughout the season.
Bellingham will travel to Kelowna for the first game of the series at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 8 at Elks Stadium. Game two (and three if it’s needed) will be at the same time at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham.
The series winner will move on to the single-elimination divisional championship for a shot at advancing to the WCL Championship.
“These guys play hard for each other. They really like each other. It’s a tight group,” Clem said. “It’s been fun to watch. They’ve really put a nice streak together here at the end, and we’ve beat some good teams — teams that are in the playoffs. We’re playing about as well as we could hope for right now.”
Here’s what happened in the Bells’ series with Port Angeles.
Yoshida homers, Bells post season-high scoring effort in game 1 win
Bellingham racked up 15 hits and 14 RBIs in a 16-1 trouncing of the Lefties on Friday, Aug. 4 — the second time in six games the Bells have scored 12 or more runs.
Second baseman Cole Yoshida hit a solo home run in the top of the second inning, sparking a run of 10 unanswered scores by the Bells through the top of the fifth. Port Angeles’ lone run came the following half-inning, but Bellingham added five runs in the seventh and one in the ninth.
Several Bellingham players had huge days at the plate. Yoshida, center fielder Andrew Valdez and right fielder Max Hartman each had three hits while catcher Colton Bower had two.
Yoshida (3 for 5) added four runs scored and two RBIs, Valdez (3 for 6) drove in four runs and Hartman (3 for 4) scored twice and also had an RBI. Third baseman Nate Kirkpatrick scored three runs as well.
Right-handed pitcher Tomas Urbina pitched four innings for Bellingham, allowing three hits, one earned run and a walk while striking out three. Four other Bells pitchers combined to throw the rest of the game.
Port Angeles’ five pitchers walked a whopping 16 Bells batters, and the score could have been even more lopsided if Bellingham didn’t leave 17 runners on base.
Bells drop game 2 on the heels of season-best performance
Port Angeles took advantage of shaky Bellingham pitching in an 8-4 win over the Bells on Saturday, Aug. 5.
Bellingham’s six pitchers allowed only five hits but walked nine batters, surrendering eight earned runs as a result. The Bells, who had seven hits, had double-digit runners stranded for the second-straight game (10).
Port Angeles’ 3-0 lead heading into the fifth inning was erased by the Bells via three hits — including a triple from first baseman Coleman Schmidt — and four stolen bases in the top of the inning, tying the game at 3-3.
Bellingham walked seven Lefties batters in the bottom of the sixth, allowing Port Angeles to score four runs without ever recording a hit. One score was on a fielder’s choice, and the other three were walked in.
The Bells never recovered, falling behind 8-3 after the seventh inning, and adding just one more run in the top of the ninth.
Center fielder Dean West was Bellingham’s lone bright spot, finishing the game 3-for-5 batting with a run scored and an RBI. Right-hander Matt Molina was handed the loss for Bellingham after pitching 0.2 innings and allowing no hits, four earned runs and three walks.
Bellingham closes out regular season with extra-inning win in game 3
The Bells outlasted Port Angeles in the final game of the regular season via a 10-inning, 4-3 win over the Lefties on Sunday, Aug. 6.
The would-be game-winning run came on a two-out double by first baseman Daryl Ruiz in the top of the 10th inning, scoring outfielder Brady Reynolds. Bellingham’s pitchers didn’t surrender a single hit in the latter half of the inning — despite two walks — to preserve the win.
Port Angeles’ largest lead of the game came at the end of the seventh inning, 3-1, before the Bells’ two-run ninth inning forced a 10th.
Bells right-hander Eli Knowlton earned his second win of the season on the mound, pitching 2.2 innings and allowing one hit, no runs and four walks while striking out two.
Ruiz finished the game 2-for-5 batting with an RBI, while Coleman Schmidt, who tied the game in the ninth inning, went 1 for 1 with two RBIs.
