Vancouver Canadians Christopher Bec

Christopher Bec heads down to first base after drawing a first-inning walk Thursday.

The Vancouver Canadians lost on two fronts Thursday night. They not only suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Boise Hawks at Nat Bailey Stadium but also saw their lead in the North Division shrink to a single game. Spokane slammed Salem-Keizer Thursday to move to 15-13 on the year, just behind 16-12 Vancouver.

Boise Hawks Daniel Jipping

Daniel Jipping steps on home plate after hitting a three-run home run for Boise Thursday.

Jose Espada made it through the first three innings but a strikeout-wild pitch against Cade Harris started Boise’s rally in the fourth. A walk to Willie MacIver followed before Daniel Jipping jumped on a 3-1 pitch and lined it over the short fence in left field for a three-run home run.

Vancouver got one back in the bottom of the fourth against Justin Valdaspina. Christopher Bec led off with a walk, stole second and made it to third on a MacIver throwing error behind the plate. Yorman Rodriguez followed with a walk but Griffin Conine grounded into a 4-6-3 double play that scored Bec. The double play especially hurt when Jesus Severino drilled a double to left but McGregory Contreras popped up to short to end the rally.

The C’s got another run in the fifth when Nick Podkul lined a double to left field with one out and got to third on a Valdespina wild pitch. Tanner Kirwer hit a shallow pop fly with two outs but miscommunication between Boise second baseman Terrin Vavra and  center fielder Luke Morgan allowed the ball to drop in for a base hit. Vavra looked like he was trying to duck a grenade. That resulted in Podkul scoring Vancouver’s second run. Kirwer got himself into scoring position by stealing second base but Bec struck out to end the inning.

Brad Schreiber, Shelby Lackey and Jefry Valdez held Vancouver off the board over the final four innings to give Valdespina the victory. Valdez got the save with a shutout ninth after Lackey pitched two scoreless frames and Schreiber had a scoreless sixth.

Vancouver Canadians Fitz Stadler

Fitz Stadler pitched a career-high three innings for Vancouver Thursday night.

Radar Gun Rundown

radar_gun_iconEspada had strikeouts clocked at 87, 92, 90, 88, 82, 84, 90  and touched 95 miles per hour.

Stadler had strikeouts registered at 94 and 95 and was at 85-88 on the low end.

Reyes struck out the side with strikeouts of 89, 89 and 95.

C-Notes

C's NotesVancouver had three walks to work with in the first two innings but were kept off the scoreboard. After Bec heard ball four in the first, Conine had a leadoff walk in the second and Severino joined him one out later but Brett Wright grounded into a 1-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Wright’s night at the plate would not get any better. Severino and Contreras drew two-out walks in the sixth but Wright went down swinging against Schreiber.

Conine would rap into a double play in the eighth to nullify a Bec leadoff walk in the eighth against Lackey, who reached 98 on the radar gun at one point. He struck out the side in the seventh and faced the minimum in the eighth after the Conine double play.

Vancouver Canadians McGregory Contreras

McGregory Contreras walked twice and took one for the team Thursday.

Contreras was hit a pitch by Valdez with one out in the ninth. Wright hit one that had the distance but went foul down the left field side. He would strike out but Contreras would get to second on the wild pitch that accompanied the whiff. Podkul hit one on the screws but it died into the glove of Luke Morgan in center field to end the game.

Podkul looked sharp defensively in the sixth inning. He made a diving stop on a ground ball at second and nearly threw out MacIver at first. Podkul then short-hopped a ground ball and erased MacIver as part of a 4-3 double play on a Jipping ground ball.

Bec and Contreras were the on-base leaders with three apiece and five walks between them. Severino doubled and walked while Kirwer and Podkul had the other hits. The C’s were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position with seven men left on base. Vancouver had three hits, eight walks and a hit by pitch while striking out eight times.

Espada gave up three runs on one hit and five walks over five innings and struck out seven. Stadler pitched three shutout frames by striking out two and scattering two hits and a walk. Reyes got around a pair of hits by striking out the side.

The second game of this five-game series is a Nooner at the Nat. The game can be heard on BNN Bloomberg Radio 1410. Pregame show is at 12:00 pm. Rob Fai will have the play-by-play at 1:05 pm. Randy Pondler (4-4, 3.04) gets the starting assignment for Vancouver. Jeffri Ocando (1-3, 7.35) gets the ball for Boise.

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Published by Niall O'Donohoe

My name is Niall O’Donohoe and I am an avid follower of baseball. My blog beginnings began in 2007 with Batter’s Box under the alias #2JBrumfield. The blog formerly known as Niall On Baseball, C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!

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