W L Pct GB
Salem ........ 7 3 .700 —
Yakima ....... 6 4 .600 1
Spokane ...... 5 4 .556 1½
Victoria ..... 5 4 .556 1½
Edmonton ..... 5 4 .556 1½
Vancouver .... 5 5 .500 2
Lewiston ..... 4 5 .444 2½
Wenatchee .... 4 4 .444 2½
Calgary ...... 3 6 .333 3½
Tri-City ..... 3 7 .300 4
VICTORIA [Jim Tang, Colonist, May 7]—A boot was a big factor in ending Victoria Tyees’ winning streak at four games last night at Royal Athletic Park.
This wasn’t the usual kind of ‘boot’ which goes into the records in the error column. It was on the foot of Jack Bukowatz, Salem second baseman, and it not only scored three Senators, the margin in an 11-8 game, it caused a near riot as players of both clubs mixed it up in a general melee in front of the grandstand.
The unscheduled entertainment took place in the seventh inning. The Senators had one run in and the bags loaded with one out when Connie Perez grounded a ball to Victoria shortstop Eddie Lake. Running on third, Bukowatz was forced at the plate as Martin turned to make the double-play attempt at first base, the Salem infielder kicked him off balance and Martin heaved the ball into right field.
MILT ANGRY
The ball was no sooner on its way than Martin swung into action against Bukowatz. Both dugouts emptied in a hurry and although there were more peacemakers than fighters, there was some pretty good action. Martin, hampered by his pads and clutching fingers, didn’t do as much damage as he wanted to but Mike Kanshin, swinging with considerable calculation, got in some pretty good licks before it was over. And Victoria-manager Don Pries had a set-to with Salem-pitcher Gene Johnson down first-base way. A ballet-like sparring match ended with Pries on top, but with a split lip.
Practically unnoticed in the excitement was that three Salem runners, including Perez, scored. When arguments had ended, Martin had been tossed out of the game, plate-umpire Einar Sorenson contending that there had been no deliberate interference on the play, although it appeared obvious that Bukowatz made his important “play” after his slide.
Those three runs were the difference as the Tyees scored twice before the game ended to come within three of the Salem total.
LOAD TOO BIG
Last night’s game was almost identical with the previous four this week except for the fact that this time the Victoria attack couldn’t quite make up for pitching deficiencies.
Bob Drilling started for the losers and proved no puzzle, giving up 15 hits before being relieved by Berlyn Hodges in the sixth inning. Hodges gave up only one hit, and those three unearned runs in the seventh, but his fine effort was wasted although the Tyees threatened to the bitter end.
They scored in the seventh and eighth and got a promising start in the ninth, but the loss of Martin and Tom Perez, who hurt a leg when he crashed into a light pole in left-centre, from their batting order didn’t help. And neither did too much hustle on the bases by Ron Jackson and Joe Joshua, thrown out at third in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, as they forgot that it’s safety first on the bags when your side is trailing by three runs.
Ernie Domenichelli stugged the full nine innings for the Solons, in trouble every inning as he was reached for 10 hits and gave up 10 bases on balls. But the Tyees could only get one run at a time, except in the third when Steve Mesner hot a three-run homer to put the Tyees ahead, 4-3. They took the lead again in the fifth, 6-5, but it could be that last night they made their move too soon.
The series, and the Tyees’ first home stand, winds up today with an afternoon game at 2 and an evening game at 7:30. Lefthander Bob Moen has been named by Pries for the first game and Hal Flinn for the second. The Tyees don’t get back home until May 20, when they meet Vancouver in four games. In the meantime, they plat at Yakima, Tri-City and Salem.
Salem ........ 012 203 300—11 16 1
Victoria ...... 103 110 110— 8 10 4
Domenichelli and Ogden; Drilling, Hodges (6) and Martin, Sanchez (7)
YAKIMA, May 7—Manager Lou Stringer and pitcher Dick Young teamed to give the Yakima Bears an 8-3 win over Wenatchee in a Western International League baseball game here Friday night.
Wenatchee ..... 000 000 012—3 8 2
Yakima ........... 030 000 05x—8 11 1
Thompson, Klein (8) and Jenney; Young, Machado (9) and Summers.
LEWISTON, Idaho, May 7 — Everything went wrong for the Lewiston Broncs who committed nine errors to drop their Western International League Baseball series opener to Calgary 8-7 Friday night.
Shortstop Jose Bache had the hardest time of all. He committed four successive errors in the eighth inning to give the Stampeders four runs and the victory.
First, Gus Stathos went to first on an error. Then Jim Wert walked and Don Lundberg singled to load the bases. Rod Owens went to first on an error as Stathos scored.
Then Jim Stack was safe on an error, again by Bache, while Wert scored. Lundberg ran home as Elmer Clow went to first on an error, and Owens scored on a grounder.
Calgary ........ 001 101 140—8 9 2
Lewiston ...... 202 000 120—7 7 0
Owens, Orrell (8) and Lundberg; Martin, Kime (8) and Garay.
SPOKANE, May 7 — Edmonton Eskimos raced to a 6-1 lead in the first four innings Friday night in beating Spokane 10-5 in the first game of a four-game Western International League baseball series.
Dale Hittle, who relieved Edmonton starter Larry Manier in the third and pitched no-hit, no-run ball for three innings, was credited with the win. John Conant took over from him in the seventh. Will Hafey hit one over the fence for Spokane’s final tally in the eighth inning. The Indians, who outhit the Eskimos 10-8, left 12 men stranded on base.
Edmonton ..... 301 203 100—10 8 3
Spokane ....... 010 400 010— 6 10 3
Manier, Kittle (4), Conant (7) and Self; Wisneski, Aubertin (4), Giovannoni (6) and Dean.
VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, Province, May 8]—It was a beautiful night, and the second best crowd of the season—around 1600—had turned out at Capilano Stadium Friday to take a look at this powerhouse Capilano ball team they’d heard about.
Better they should have stayed home with a good TV show, if any. Except for a couple of home runs by the big two, Dick Greco and Bob Wellman, the Caps showed the folks nothing as Tri-City Braves evened the series at 1-1 with a 6-4 victory.
That doesn’t sound like much of a beating, and it isn’t, but the locals could have won this ball game with a little hustle and some stricter attention to one of the game’s basic features, namely fielding.
They committed four errors to hand the Braves a couple of unearned runs, and the lackadaisical play of a pair of veterans on two other occasions could have meant the difference between victory and defeat.
Such a Busy Week for Brenner
Marv Williams had an excellent chance to break up a double play in the eighth, but chose the easy way out. And Ken Richardson, in the ninth, didn’t exactly resemble Determine going down to first when the first baseman, pulled off the bag, dived and got him out. The next batter, Wellman, homered, and there went a run.
A pair of Cap pitchers, Rod MacKay and Tom Del Sarto, didn’t particularly look like world beaters either while they lasted. Bill Franks looked better than he has, but he was removed for a pinch hitter and didn’t get much chance to shine. The best of the four Vancouver moundsmen was once again Bill Brenner, who was seeing action for the third time this week.
But tomorrow (that’s today) is another day, and the Caps can still take the series by winning both ends of a doubleheader. Brenner was due to make his fourth appearance of the week this afternoon, with George Nicholas, fresh from a shutout, on the mound at 8:15.
PROVINCE STARS – Bob Wellman, who got three of Vancouver’s seven hits … Dale Bloom, the Tri-City pitcher who had just one bad inning … And the Braves’ Jack Warren, still one of the best hitters in the WIL.
Tri-City ........... 000 220 020—6 10 2
Vancouver ....... 000 030 001—4 7 4
Bloom and Johnson; MacKay, Franks (5), Del Sarto (6), Brenner (8) and Pesut.
The Sports Herald
KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News-Herald, May 8, 1954]
Ball Fans Still From Missouri
Putting one little word after another, Bill Brenner is vexed at the small turnouts his Capilano ballers have been attracting. Particularly since the weather has turned balmy.
Bill feels he has given fans something to see this year in a club which has a tremendous home run potential, awesome run-making ability, better than fair pitching and general performance which is not dull routine … We are inclined to agree on all counts, but several facts prevent people from warming up to the club too quickly … After 1953, baseball fans adopted an “I’m from Missouri attitude towards baseball.” They will come eventually, but they will have to be shown firs. It is still our firm belief that a baseball season should operate between May 15 and September 30 out this way … Those April evenings are attractive only to the hardened pioneer…
Former Capilano Dick Sinovic was wailing the daylights out of American Association pitching for his Toledo club at a .450 clip when he jammed his thumb trying to bunt and went on the shelf for a week … Another almost Capilano, catcher Sam Hairston (he trained with the team last spring), is having an equally big time in Charleston with his bat…
The Calgary baseball franchise is not going down without a fight … Some rapid baseball fans have begun soliciting books of tickets and reports indicate they are raising quite a sum of money.
Bob Wellman, the Capilano big first baseman who made such a crashing debut Thursday night, has decided this is a pretty nice city to play baseball in … His manager, Bill Brenner, had given Bob permission to make a deal for himself in a higher classification, but Bob told him yesterday he’s not even going to try … The two homers he clicked for his christening might have persuaded him.
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