The Bellingham Bells played perhaps their most dominant series of the season, sweeping the Port Angeles Lefties July 28–30 at Joe Martin Stadium.
Bellingham’s trio of wins against Port Angeles (12-36) included two shutouts, and the Bells’ pitchers allowed just 11 hits the entire series. The Bells moved to 11-9 in the second half of the season (31-16 overall) as they extended their win streak to five games.
Despite its resurgence, Bellingham remains in third in the West Coast League North Division standings, 3.5 games behind the Wenatchee AppleSox (35-13). The Victoria HarbourCats (32-15) are in second, just one game ahead of the Bells.
Now 8-2 in their last 10 games, the Bells will get a chance to narrow the gap on Wenatchee when the AppleSox come to Joe Martin Stadium for a three-game series Aug. 1–3. All games begin at 6:35 p.m.
Here’s what happened in the Bells’ series with Port Angeles.
Beitel leads Bells to shutout win in game 1
Bellingham right-hander Ryan Beitel pitched five innings and allowed two hits and no runs or walks while striking out seven in a 5-0 shutout win on Friday, July 28.
Fellow right-handers Marques Brown and James Trimble each pitched two innings for the Bells as well, combining to allow just one hit, no runs and two walks while striking out two.
The Bells’ offense backed up its play on the mound, taking a 2-0 lead after two innings. Their offense came alive again in the bottom of the sixth, stringing together a three-run inning that was ignited by a triple from right fielder Coleman Schmidt that scored third baseman Nate Kirkpatrick and left fielder Brady Reynolds.
Schmidt scored a run of his own as center fielder Dean West was put out on the next Bellingham at-bat, pushing the lead to 5-0.
Port Angeles managed just one more hit in the game, as the Bells finished with eight hits as a team.
Schmidt finished the game 3-for-5 batting with a run scored and three RBIs. First baseman Daryl Ruiz and West each also recorded an RBI.
4 Bells pitchers contribute to second shutout of series
The Bells got another batch of stout pitching performances in a 6-0 win over Port Angeles on Saturday, July 29.
Bellingham scored all six of its runs in the first five innings, allowing its pitchers to seal the win on the back end. Left-hander Nathan Van Beek led the group, throwing four innings and allowing one hit, no runs and two walks while striking out one.
Second baseman Cole Yoshida got the scoring started with an unearned run in the bottom of the second inning. In the bottom of the third, Schmidt scored on a ground out by shortstop Riley Parker before center fielder Andrew Valdez sent a solo home run deep past the left field fence — his fourth of the season.
The Bells entered the bottom of the fifth leading 4-0, and Ruiz extended that advantage with a deep single to center field that scored Parker. Yoshida added an RBI single to his night on the very next at-bat, driving in Valdez to make it 6-0.
Aside from Van Beek, Bellingham right-handers Liam O’Brien, P.J. Wendler and Ty Saunders combined to pitch five innings, allowing two hits, no runs and three walks while striking out three.
Swaim throws a gem, leads Bells to sweep of Lefties
Right-hander Everett Swaim led another impressive day on the mound for Bellingham and the Bells swept Port Angeles after a 4-2 win in game three on Sunday, July 30.
Swaim pitched five innings and walked four batters but didn’t allow a single hit or run while striking out two. Four other Bellingham pitchers combined to allow five hits and two earned runs to the Lefties.
Bells catcher Garner Christensen connected on a double in the bottom of the second that scored Parker and right fielder Max Hartman.
Runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings gave Bellingham a 4-0 lead before the Lefties scored their only two runs of the series in the top of the eighth. Port Angeles left one on base at the end of the game.
Parker finished 2-for-3 batting with a run scored, and Schmidt went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Three other Bells contributed to Bellingham’s eight total hits as a team.
