Applesox pound Harbourcats

WENATCHEE 8 VICTORIA 4

The Wenatchee AppleSox got to Victoria HarbourCats starter Joe Navilhon early and often Wednesday night in central Washington state.

The H-Cats (20-30) continued limping home to their season-ending Royal Athletic Park stand this weekend as Victoria lost for the fifth consecutive time in dropping an 8-4 West Coast League baseball decision to the AppleSox.

Navilhon, from Cal State-Fullerton, was chased from the game after allowing eight runs on eight hits in just 2 2⁄3 innings, effectively ending the contest early. Victoria product Connor Russell went the rest of the way, allowing three hits and no runs.

“We’ve hit a rough patch lately,” Russell said. “My job tonight was to come in and keep [damage] to a minimum. We’re still out there competing.”

Victoria manager Dennis Rogers feels his players’ pain. “The guys are feeling down, no doubt. They just can’t get over the hump,” he said.

While the contest was meaningless for Victoria, which has been eliminated from the North Division playoff race, it meant a great deal for the AppleSox (28-22), who maintained their co-lead with the Walla Walla Sweets atop the North Division standings.

Victoria’s bright spot, and it was indeed luminous, was David Schuknecht with three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored. Included in that total were his fourth and fifth home runs of the season. But it wasn’t nearly enough against a highly motivated AppleSox club.

The HarbourCats conclude the road portion of their inaugural WCL season tonight in Bellingham in a make-up game from a rain-postponement earlier in the season. Both the Bells and HarbourCats then travel to the Island on Friday to begin the season-ending three-game set at Royal Athletic Park.