The Bellingham Bells pulled off two wins on the road at the Kamloops NorthPaws July 21–22 at Norbrock Stadium before the third game was canceled due to poor air quality resulting from wildfire smoke.
One of the fires that contributed to the smoke was the Ross Moore Lake fire, around 8 miles south of Kamloops, British Columbia. It is unclear whether the game will be rescheduled for a later date.
Bellingham moved to 6-8 in the second half of the season (26-15 overall) with the pair of wins over Kamloops (2-12, 9-32), maintaining its third-place overall spot in the West Coast League North Division. The Bells have the fourth-best division record in the second half, sitting 5.5 games behind the first-place Wenatchee AppleSox (12-3, 31-11).
The Bells will play their first three-game series against Wenatchee July 25–27 at Paul Thomas Field. All games begin at 6:35 p.m.
Here’s what happened in the Bells’ series with Kamloops.
3 Bells pitchers shut out NorthPaws in game 1
Right-handers Ryan Beitel and Hunter Long combined with left-hander Kadden Drew on the mound to lead Bellingham to a 3-0 victory over Kamloops on Friday, July 21.
The trio combined to allow six hits and no runs or walks while striking out 11 batters. Drew, in two innings pitched, didn’t allow a single hit and struck out four.
Bellingham’s offense struggled — limited to just four hits — but a solo home run in the top of the third inning by Bells designated hitter Coleman Schmidt got the scoring started.
Both teams were scoreless the following three innings until a double by Bellingham third baseman Cole Yoshida scored second baseman Ty Saunders, pushing the Bells’ lead to 2-0. Kamloops pitchers walked 10 Bells batters — including three in the top of the eighth — allowing a sacrifice fly to score right fielder Andrew Valdez for the final run of the game.
Right-hander Christian Spitz took the loss for the NorthPaws, throwing five innings and allowing two hits, one earned run and five walks while striking out four.
Bellingham holds on in high-scoring, back-and-forth game 2
The Bells edged the NorthPaws 11-9 on Saturday, July 22, in a game that featured three ties, two lead changes and a combined 20 hits.
Bellingham, which scored twice in the first inning, took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on a solo home run from center fielder Dean West. Kamloops responded in the bottom of the inning, driving in three runs of its own to tie the game.
Both teams added one in the fourth inning, tying the game at 4-4 heading into the fifth.
The NorthPaws seized the lead with a four-run fifth inning, set up by three walks and, eventually, a two-out triple from Kamloops center fielder Gage Mestas that drove in three of his teammates. Mestas was a one-man show, finishing the game 4-for-5 batting with five RBIs.
The Bells, however, responded with their own four-run inning in the top of the sixth. West and Yoshida each had hits and Kamloops’ defense committed three errors in a single inning. Designated hitter Colton Bower, third baseman Nate Kirkpatrick, West and Yoshida all scored for Bellingham, tying the game at 8-8.
Bellingham kept its foot on the gas pedal in the top of the seventh, driving in three more runs with hits from West, Yoshida, Valdez and shortstop Riley Parker to take an 11-8 lead. Kamloops added one more run in the bottom of the ninth, but it was unable to match the Bells’ offensive burst.
Three Bells pitchers threw at least two innings, but right-hander Tomas Urbina earned the win after pitching one inning and not allowing any hits, runs or walks. Kamloops deployed six different pitchers who combined to allow 10 hits, eight earned runs and seven walks while striking out eight.
West finished 3-for-5 batting with three runs scored and two RBIs. Yoshida went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and three RBIs.
