Pippins Fall on Another Ninth Inning Rally by the HarbourCats

In a back and forth game, the HarbourCats put together another ninth inning rally to sink the Pippins in the final game of the series on Thursday.

In the second inning, the Pippins took an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single off the bat of Cody Jefferis but it could have been more as Cam Campbell was caught in between second and third on the single and would be tagged out to end the inning.

Chase Farrell got the start for the Pippins and worked in and out of trouble early on. He stranded a runner on in each of the first three innings, two of which were in scoring position.

The HarbourCats got on the board in the fourth. After a walk and a single to lead off the inning, Caleb Ricketts grounded into a double play, bringing in a run and pulling Victoria even.

The Pippins answered right back in the bottom half of the inning. With runners on the corners and one out, Campbell dropped down a squeeze bunt to bring in the run from third. In the fifth inning, Campbell brought in another run with a bases loaded walk to extend the lead to 3-1. While picking up the lead, the Pippins couldn’t get the big hit to break the game open. Over the first five innings, the Pippins left nine men on base including leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth.

Despite not having his normal pinpoint control, Farrell worked into the sixth inning before the HarbourCats were able to put up a rally. A walk and two singles loaded the bases with no outs and set up an RBI single from Jaxxon Fagg. An RBI groundout later in the inning would tie the game at three. Farrell would be relieved by Tanner Inouye who allowed the final run of the inning on a wild pitch.

The score would stay 4-3 until the eighth when the Pippins were able to get to the Victoria bullpen. With one out, two walks and a single loaded the bases with just one out. Still searching for the big hit, Kyle Dean delivered with a two run single back up the middle to give the Pippins a 5-4 lead. Two runners would be stranded in the inning and missing an opportunity to tack on to the lead would prove costly in the ninth.

Drew Hurst came out of the bullpen for the ninth inning and had trouble throwing strikes. Hurst walked two of the first three batters with another reaching on an error to load the bases with no outs. Jed Fagg followed with a two run double to put the HarbourCats back out in front. Hurst would get out of the inning but the damage was done.

The Pippins offense put runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t push across a run, dropping the final game of the series to Victoria.

The Pippins will look to right the ship when they open up a three game road series against the Sweets on Friday. First pitch at 6:35.

By Kevin Vallene

August 3, 2018