PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Game one of two at Palm Springs Stadium featured the Coachella Valley Snowbirds defeating the British Columbia Bombers, 5-0. A four run second inning aided four Snowbird pitchers to work with a lead throughout and combine for the shutout.
The game got off to a fascinating start, as Dhahraun Bivins walked. However, representing the lead runner, Bivins was passed by the batter Skyler Mercado on a deep fly ball to center that was dropped. Bivins believed the fly ball was caught, but Mercado continued toward second amid the confusion.
Then, the bottom of the inning ended with the Snowbirds (3-10-1) grounding into a 6-4-5-2-1 double play. After receiving the force at second base, Trevor Achenbach caught Taichi Nakamura in a rundown between third and home.
The Snowbirds sent eight men to the plate in the second and scored four runs on RBIs from Konosuke Kawagishi, Ting-Wei Peng, Kuo-Chen Tseng and Taichi Nakamura. They added another run in the sixth when Tseng doubled and scored on a Masato Takamatsu single to go up 5-0.
A combination of Keita Shimizu, Koji Morino, Michihiro Koizumi and Jae Soon Lee did not allow a run on five hits in the victory. Shimizu got the win, while Ryan Bingelli took the loss for British Columbia (2-10-2). Jack Landwher did well in his three innings of work after he allowed one run on six hits with four strikeouts for the Bombers.
The Oregon Lumberjacks beat the Alberta Grizzly, 7-1, in the second game of the day at Palm Springs Stadium. The Jacks scored six runs over the first three innings and dominated throughout.
In the first inning, Oregon’s (8-5-1) first run came on a wild pitch and their second came on Joe Torre’s RBI single to center field. After another run in the second inning, the Jacks got three more in the third to go up 6-0. Jovan Hernandez hit an RBI triple down the right field line, Austin Meyer singled home a run, and the other run scored on a throwing error.
Kane McCall was dominant in his four innings on the mound, striking out five Grizzly (7-6-2) hitters while not allowing a run. The Jacks used four pitchers to combine to allow just one run over seven innings.
The lone run of the game for Alberta came on a Jeturi Brown RBI double down the left field line in the fifth. The Jacks tacked on one more run in the seventh when Chandler Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly.
McCall got the win for the Jacks and Tom Sigrist suffered the loss for the Grizzly.
The Manitoba North Stars (8-5-1) defeated the Palm Springs Chill (4-8-2), 6-3. The Canada A’s (8-5) defeated the Washington Blue Sox (9-5), 7-3 in game two.
Game one at Palm Springs Stadium will feature the Washington Blue Sox taking on the Oregon LumberJacks at 10:00am. The Palm Springs Power and Coachella Valley Snowbirds will follow at 12:30.
Monday, February 12 is “Locals Day” at the California Winter League. Those with a valid Coachella ID will be admitted to the stadium for $3. The broadcast can be heard on CaliforniaWinterLeague.com.
