W L Pct GB
Lewiston .... 16 7 .696 —
Yakima ...... 12 7 .632 2
Salem ....... 12 8 .600 2½
Edmonton .... 11 10 .524 4
Vancouver .... 8 9 .471 5
Tri-City ..... 9 12 .429 6
Victoria ..... 5 10 .333 7
Wenatchee .... 6 16 .273 9½
VICTORIA [Colonist, July 27]—Berlyn Hodges, a promising home-grown southpaw, almost made it at Royal Athletic Park last night as he strove manfully to end the Tyees’ losing streak at eight games.
Impressive for seven innings, Hodges once again ran into late-inning trouble which has always plagued him although he escaped being charged with the 6-4 defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Eskimos.
GOOD START
Hodges, in what was probably his top performance of the season, still had a shutout going after seven innings and had never failed to retire the first batter in each inning. Only in the third and sixth innings had the Eskimos managed to get two runners on base at one time and Hodges pitch out each time without trouble.
A base on balls, manager Bob Sturgeon’s third single and a triple by Bob Brown cut the early 4-0 Victoria lead to two but Hodges still seemed to be in control as he bore down to strike out Andy Skurski and Roy Partee for his seventh and eighth whiffs of the game. Partee was tossed out of the game for protesting a called third strike, an event that was later to work to the advantage of the Eskimos.
But the Eskimos started the ninth in businesslike fashion as Don Gigli singled and Vern Campbell followed with a double.
WRONG CHOICE
Victoria manager Don Pries then called on Bob Drilling, who has shown time and time again that he is effective only as a starter, to stem the rally. Drilling walked pinch-hitter Art Worth to load the bags and became the loser when John McKeown, also in a pinch-hitting role, scored Edmonton’s third run with a single and Augie Amorena doubled in three runs.
Bill Bottler, too late, relieved Drilling and got three Esks in order, two on strikeouts.
However, the four-run rally should have done nothing more than make it close for the Eskimos. The Tyees picked up 14 hits and six bases on balls but couldn’t score again after opening with three runs in the first inning and a fourth in the second inning.
They lost at least one run in the first when Don Lundgren was allowed to try and make an inside-the-park home run out of a legitimate triple which had scored two mates. They left two runners on in the second, third, fourth, sixth and ninth inning and the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth as they stranded 16.
ESKS HELP SELVES
Key defensive plays helped the Eskimos out twice. Campbell retired Ron Jackson in the eighth by grabbing a foul fly after a long run and Dan Prentice probably saved the decision in the ninth with a spectacular play.
Taking over behind the plate when Partee was asked to leave, Prentice came up with his contribution in the ninth after Steve Mesner had doubled and Mel Stein had raced out an infield hit. Pinch-hitter Bill Prior laid down a perfect bunt and with no play possible at first, Prentice got Mesner at second with a beautiful snap throw after a fine running pick-up.
That left runners on second and first with one out instead of a bases-loaded, none-out problem and the Tyees lost their ninth in a row as Ron Jackson and Pries grounded to first baseman Amorena.
PRIES HURT
Pries was knocked out on the last play of the game as he tried desperately to beat Amorena to the bag. It was practically a dead heat and runner and fielder collided just past the bag with Pries apparently banging his chin against Amorena’s head. It was believed that the hustling manager will be able to play in tonight’s second game.
Tonight is “Duncan Night” at the park. The up-Island delegation will include Mayor Wragg and about 200 Little League players. They will see veteran Ray McNulty pitching for Edmonton and rookie southpaw Phil Page on the hill for the Tyees.
Edmonton ....... 000 000 024—6 11 1
Victoria .......... 310 000 000—4 14 0
Widner, Manier (9) and Partee, Prentice (8).
LEWISTON, July 26—The Salem Senators used an 18-hit attack on three Lewiston pitchers in coming up with a 12-5 win to open their Western International League baseball series against the Broncs.
Salem had two big innings. The Senators put across five runs in the fifth on Connie Perez' homer with two aboard, a double by Dennis Luby, a triple by Jim Deyo and a single by Floyd Ogden. They added four more in the sixth on a walk, three singles and a triple.
Home runs accounted for three of Lewiston's five tallies. Bases empty homers in the third inning by Glen Tuckett and Don Hunter, and another in the fourth by Larry Barton were the big blows.
Salem ............. 100 054 011—12 18 0
Lewiston ......... 012 200 000— 5 10 0
Franks, Johnson (4), Rayle (5) and Ogden; Kime, Martin (5) and Garay.
KENNEWICK [Tri-City Herald, July 27]—After watching the Braves in action Monday night at Sanders Field, the loyal Tri-City fans are asking how in blazes did the same team drop six of eight games on the road.
It didn't look like the same ball club, mostly because of the pitching of Jess Dobernic, who set the Chiefs down on three hits. The veteran Jess's pitching performance was almost matched by Wentachee's Joe Waters, who pitched four-hit ball, but a rash of Wenatchee errors enabled the Braves to win, 7-0.
Tonight the same two teams go at it again. It will be the second game of the four-game series which ends Thursday. Tonight will also be Richland Atomic Frontier night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Playing manager Edo Vanni has named lefty Herman Besse, recently added to the Tri-City staff, as starter tonight. Besse has won one game for the Braves and pitched eight innings of the no-decision 12-inning draw with Lewiston last week.
In Monday night's action, Dobernic pitched his second shutout of the season and racked up his eighth win. He was never in serious trouble and only twice did runners reach second base. With a no-hitter going into the fifth, Laurie Monroe rapped out a single and moved to second on a fielder's choice. And in the sixth, Waters walked and
moved to second on Jerry Green's single. But that was all for the Chiefs.
When they got runners on base in the eighth and ninth innings double plays touched off by shortstop Dick Watson wiped the sacks clean.
Tri-City's big inning came in the third when Wenatchee made three miscues. With Watson safe on a error, Dobernic sacrificed him to second.
A single by Terry Carroll scored Watson with what proved to be the winning run but the Braves were just beginning to roll. Carroll had moved to second on the throw in and went to third when Vic Buccola grounded out.
Len Tran was safe on another error and Carroll scored. Artie Wllson followed with a single sending Tran to third, and Bob Moniz got a single scoring Tran and sending Wilson in third. From there the Braves successfully worked a double steal that scored Wilson.
Gordy Brunswick walked, Rube Johnson hit a high fly to the outfield which was misjudged, then dropped, and both runners scored.
Tri-City added one in the seventh when Tran walked, stole second, and scored on another error.
Wenatchee ....... 000 000 000—0 3 4
Tri-City ............ 006 000 10x—7 4 1
Waters, Stanford (8) and Self; Dobernic and Johnson.
ONLY GAMES SCHEDULED
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