After a close six innings, the Bellingham Bells put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh to seal a 7-3 win over the Port Angeles Lefties Thursday night. The home win extended the Bells’ winning streak to nine games and marked three series sweeps in a row.
The seventh-inning offensive surge saw Teo Banks hit an RBI single to bat in Gavin Schulz and put the Bells up 4-3. A walk to Jack Van Remortel with the bases loaded extended the Bells’ lead before a two-RBI double to center field from Jacob Schroeder sent Cole Hage and Elijah Hainline home.
“We got it to bases loaded again with two outs and the base hit by Schroeder really felt like it broke it wide open there,” head coach Adam Geaslen said. “You’re never comfortable against a quality team with a four-run lead, but I definitely felt a lot better about it there.”
The Bells’ Jacob Schroeder drives in two runs as Bellingham beat the Port Angeles Lefties 7-3 on Thursday. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
The Bells brought in Nate Clow to pitch the eighth inning and Nate Mendoza to pitch the ninth, who struck out one and two batters, respectively, and allowed only a single baserunner.
Collectively, the Bells’ pitching lineup of Clow, Mendoza, Jack Erdman and starting pitcher Justin Thorsteinson recorded 11 strikeouts.
Bellingham’s scoring began earlier in the game with a two-RBI home run from Daniel Gernon in the bottom of the third inning after the Lefties went up 1-0 in the second. Gernon’s homer just over the left field wall brought home JR Freethy. Two at-bats later, a steal and errors from Port Angeles during Josh Trujillo’s at-bat allowed Hainline, the team’s season leader in runs and RBIs, to slide home on a close call.
Elijah Hainline slides in for a run in the Bellingham Bells’ 7-3 win over the Port Angeles Lefties Thursday night. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
“There were a lot of little moments in that game that helped get the job done,” Van Remortel said. Both he and Geaslen pointed to Schulz and Banks coming off the bench, Gernon and Schroeder’s RBIs and, by Geaslen, the team’s finish from the mound.
The Lefties’ Jasiah Georgia had six strikeouts across innings four, five and six to limit the Bells’ offensive chances as Weston Peninger’s home run tied the game at 3-3 for Port Angeles. But, the Bells pulled ahead in the seventh as Bellingham fans at Joe Martin Field celebrated — including increasingly-famous Seattle sports figure, Broccoli Guy, who was in attendance and earned a shoutout over the loudspeaker as the “Fan of the Game”.
The ball sails over the wall as Bellingham’s Josh Trujillo tries to make the catch against Port Angeles. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
“I love the way this team competes,” Geaslen said. “Not just baseball games — whether it be ping pong or cards in the clubhouse or whatever it may be — they don’t like to lose. They play with an edge, they play with attitude, and I love it. I love the way they compete. I love how much they care.”
Atop the North Division of the West Coast League, Bellingham now sits at 13-4 on the season, three and a half games ahead of the second-place Kamloops NorthPaws. The Bells will hit the road to face the Corvallis Knights for a three-game series Friday through Sunday. It’ll be a test for the Bells, as the Knights are in first in the South Division and are the only team in the WCL with a better win percentage than Bellingham.
