’Cats bring losing run to an end

VICTORIA 6 WALLA WALLA 1

The long ball is the greatest offensive weapon in baseball and the Victoria HarbourCats used it to lethal perfection Saturday night at Royal Athletic Park.

The HarbourCats got home runs from Tucker Johnson, Kevin Collard, Riley Zayicek and Noah Prewett to defeat the Walla Walla Sweets 6-1 to end a three-game West Coast League losing skid.

The HarbourCats had five home runs on the season heading into the game and almost matched that total in one night by tying the franchise record for most homers in one game with four.

“Our bats finally woke up today,” said Collard, the NCAA slugger, who hit seven home runs for Victoria in 2015, and has 11 in two seasons for the University of San Diego.

“It’s good to get that feeling again.

“I hope we can keep it going because we have guys who are capable of doing this every night.”

HarbourCats head coach Brian McRae concurred: “Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come because we have players who are capable of offence.”

The Victoria defence was highlighted by Hunter Vansou, from the powerhouse Mississippi State NCAA program, seeming to come all the way from Dallas Road to track down a soaring fly ball in centre field in the third inning.

The mound was fine, too, with home-Island starter Adam McKillican, a UBC Thunderbirds player from the Comox Valley, tossing seven complete innings of shutout ball with eight hits allowed and three strikeouts.

“Adam has been very strong in his last two outings,” noted McRae, a 10-year major-leaguer.

The HarbourCats (10-11) and Sweets (9-8) conclude their three-game set this afternoon at RAP.

GRAND SLAMS: There were 82 current or former WCL players selected this month in the 2017 MLB draft.