W L Pct. GB
Salem ...... 6 2 .750 —
Spokane .... 4 3 .571 1½
Lewiston ... 4 3 .571 1½
Wenatchee .. 4 3 .571 1½
Victoria ... 4 3 .571 1½
Yakima ..... 4 4 .500 2
Vancouver .. 4 4 .500 2
Edmonton ... 3 4 .429 2½
Calgary .... 2 5 .286 3½
Tri-City ... 2 6 .250 4
VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, Province, May 6]—One thing you can say about this year’s Capilanos so far: they’re consistently inconsistent. Their hitting totals range from seven base hits one night to 15 the next, and their pitching staff is either the best in the league or merely mediocre.
Wednesday provided an excellent example of the Caps’ rags to riches theme. There were two games against Salem Senators, one in the afternoon and the other at night, and the Caps couldn’t have reversed their field more completely.
BIG CHANGE
In the afternoon, everybody had it. The hitters had a field day, pounding out 15 safeties, including two home runs, and the pitching matched. Result: a 10-0 victory for the locals.
At night, the same hitters managed just seven hits and the pitchers, who had put together a string of 30 scoreless innings—including Bob Roberts’ stint against Seattle—suddenly couldn’t get anyone out. That result: 11-3 for Salem.
The split gave the Caps the series, two games to one, and left them at an even .500 average for the season. Tonight Edo Vanni and his Tri-City Braves come to town, and possibly the hitting, anyway, will level out. Added to the Vancouver batting order wll be one of the league’s most-feared hitters of 1953, Bob Wellman.
AT FIRST TONIGHT
Big Bob, who hit .350 with Yakima and collected 26 home runs, was bought yesterday from Seattle Rainiers. He arrived too late to get into the starting lineup last night, though he did appear as a sixth inning successful pinch hitter [he reached base on an error]. He’ll be at first base tonight and batting sixth in what now rates, on paper, as the WIL’s most dangerous batting array.
The Caps didn’t need Wellman yesterday afternoon, when some 500 people turned up for the experimental daylight tilt. Dick Greco and K Chorlton, with home runs, Arnie Hallgren, with three doubles, and Jim Clark, with four-for-five, backed up George Nicholas’ fine five-hit pitching.
At night, only Chorlton, with a double, managed more than a single, and Salem, led by ex-Cap Jack Bukowatz with a triple, double and two singles, teed off on four Vancouver pitchers for 18 hits.
PROVINCE STARS – Dick Greco, still the Caps’ big gun … Arnie Hallgren, who added a perfect throw to the plate to catch a charging runner in his batting feats … and Jack Bukowatz, who made the folks wonder why he was let go.
- - -
VANCOUVER, May 5— Jack Bukowatz of Salem lead the hitting with four for six Wednesday night as Salem Senators bested Vancouver Capilanos 11-3 in the second game of a Western International League baseball double-header. Vancouver won the afternoon contest via a 10-0 shutout.
Bukowatz picked up a triple and double and batted in three runs as the Senators unleashed an 18-hit attack.
Pitcher George Nicholas went the route for the Caps in the first game, allowing only five hits, all singles. The Caps tallied two home runs and four doubles. Dick Greco and K. Chorlton scored the homers.
First Game
Salem ............ 000 000 000— 0 5 0
Vancouver ...... 104 102 20x—10 15 1
Bridges, Borst (3) and Ogden; Nicholas and Pesut.
Second Game
Salem ............. 000 330 500—11 18 2
Vancouver ....... 000 012 000— 3 7 4
Peterson and Heisner, Ogden (5); Franks, MacKay (3), Cordell (5), Brenner (7) and Pesut.
SPOKANE, May 5 — Spokane and Calgary divided their Western International league baseball doubleheader Wednesday, Spokane taking the nightcap, 8-7.
Spokane blew a 6-1 lead in the second game when Calgary tied up with five runs in the sixth inning, three of them on a home run by outfielder Chuck Lundgren.
Gale Taylor opened the inning with a walk, moved to third on a single and scored on an infield out. Jim Stack and Dennis Luby hit consecutive doubles for the second run. Then, after Don Hunter drew a base on halls, came Lundgren’s long one over the left field fence.
Calgary scored what proved to be the winning runs in the seventh when Taylor and Gene Lillard singled, sending Spokane starter Ralph Romero to the showers.
First Game
Calgary ....... 000 001 000—1 3 2
Spokane ..... 040 010 00x—5 10 2
Orrell, Owens (8) and Lundberg; Anderson and Dean.
Second Game
Calgary ....... 000 015 200—8 14 3
Spokane ..... 302 011 000—7 13 1
Kapp and Lillard, Lundberg (8); Romero, Lawson (7), Aubertin (9) and Hack, Dean (9).
LEWISTON, Idaho, May 5 — Lewiston outscored Edmonton 11-8 Wednesday night in a Western International League baseball game that saw a total of 29 hits.
Both teams paraded three pitchers to the mound in their efforts to stop the hitting. The Broncs after trailing by one run through the first four innings, tied it in the fifth, and went home ahead for good in the sixth. Mel Wasley led off with a home run that inning. Russ Roseberg and Al Heist singled and Clint Cameron followed with a double that scored them with what proved to be the winning runs.
Both teams retired their starting pitchers, Dale Hittle for Edmonton and Don Tisnerat for Lewiston, in the first inning. Edmonton tapped Tisnerat for four singles, a double and a walk, good for fire runs before he left. And the Broncs got three singles, a double and a triple and a walk off Hittle during the 2-3 of an inning he pitched.
Edmonton ...... 510 000 200— 8 11 0
Lewiston ....... 410 013 11x—11 18 1
Kittle, Lebrum (1), Worth (1) and Self; Tisnerat, Smith (1), Kine (5) and Cameron.
VICTORIA [Tri-City Herald, May 6]—The much-beaten Tri-City Braves move on to Vancouver today with the prospect or facing even tougher opposition in the power-packed Capilanos while still seeking a win in the current road trip.
Tri-City dropped the third and last game in the Victoria series 7-6 Wednesday to run the losing streak to five straight.
Walter (Deacon) Clough, who has no record but had started and pitched eight innings of one game, will be playing manager Edo Vanni’s choice of a starter against Bill Brenner’s Caps tonight.
Meanwhile, in the Tri-Cities, general manager Eddie Taylor has been in contact with playing manager Vanni and both are talking ways of strengthening the Tri-City lineup.
One player under discussion is infielder Sam Kanelos, former Tri-City third baseman who was released by Edmonton recently. Kanelos, not an exceptionally high percentage hitter, is a batter who gets good wood on the ball.
Last season with Edmonton, he hit 32 doubles, 8 triples and 11 home runs. Some of the homers, however, come in the short Calgary park where Edmonton played 26 games.
Taylor said he had also been offered a pitcher from San Diego in the Pacific Coast league but he did not feel we need pitching. He had hoped to get another outfielder and is working on a deal now.
The Braves infield and outfield troubles have been quite apparent in the recent series. The fulltime play of Bob McGuire and the addition of shortstop Charlie Davis are expected to help some but neither will be ready for two or three weeks.
However, in Wednesday’s game, it was not so much defensive weakness as it was Jess Dobernic’s old bugaboo, the gopher ball, which scalped the Braves.
Don Robertson, Tri-City starter, had a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the eighth. Then he gave up a single to Dane Clay and a triple to Milt Martin before being taken out for Dobernic.
With none away, Jess started to work and momentarily it looked as if the game might be saved. He struck out pinch-hitter Art Saguso, fanned Ron Jackson, and lost his control to walk Don Pries.
With two on and two away, Tom Perez caught one of Jess’s pitches and sent it over Victoria's short centerfield wall. The three-run homer decided the game. The Braves were unable to score in the final frame after Vic Buccola hit, Len Tran struck out and Jack Warren struck out. Buccola was then thrown out trying to steal.
Warren, however, was the man at the plate who kept the Braves in the game in the first place.
After going hitless for a seven-time-at-bat streak in the current series, Warren hit what he himself had always considered the impossible—a triple which scored one runner in the fifth inning. He scored on Bob Moniz’ single and Moniz came in on Des Charouhas’s single.
Tri-City ..... 000 112 110—6 7 2
Victoria ..... 000 200 14x—7 11 2
Robertson, Dobernic (8) and Warren; Bottler, Moen (7), Drilling (9) and Martin.
WENATCHEE, May 5 — Ted Shandor, newly acquired hurler who started the season with San Francisco, arrived in Wenatchee just in time Wednesday night to pitch six innings against Yakima and be credited with a 9-3 win in a Western International League game.
Less than five hours after arriving by car, Shandor entered the game and allowed only five hits in the final six and a third innings.
Joe Unfried drove in five runs with four hits, including a homer.
Yakima .......... 002 001 000—3 8 2
Wenatchee .... 202 004 01x—9 13 1
Rios, Machado (6) and Summers; Bowman, Shandor (3) and Jenney.
IT BEATS ME
By Jim Tang
[from column in the Victoria Colonist, May 6, 1954]
Latest on the baseball situation at Calgary is that the Stampeders will likely remain in the Alberta city. Rumor has it that Norman Lacey and his associates will probably put up the necessary finances. However, if reports are right, there is still quite a problem getting the Calgary park ready for play. It’s said that it was used as a skating rink during the winter and that some of the ice is still there … Victoria baseball fans saw a lot of good shortstopping when the Tyees had Johnny [sic] Clark but they certainly have quite a replacement in veteran Eddie Lake, who gets a big jump on the ball and can throw with the best. And, he’s likely to outhit Clark by quite a margin … Dain Clay has hit safely in each of the seven games the Tyees have played and, almost invariably, he has got the hits when they were needed … One can’t help but wonder why Milt Martin is still in the WIL. The peppery catcher can receive with the best and there aren’t many, if any, catchers in the Coast League who can match that rifle arm. And his hitting is solid even if he won’t get many ankle hits … Tri-City Braves will need considerable help before they are a threat. As long as they get pitching, they can make games interesting but they lack punch. They did get 32 hits in three games here but their extra-base production only amounted to two doubles and a triple. Twenty-nine of their hits were singles … Now that they have Bob Wellman for first base duty, Vancouver Capilanos must be ranked as the team to beat, and more particularly so because they will probably get more pitching from the Seattle Rainiers. Tom Lovrich looms as their next acquisition.
By Jim Tang
[from column in the Victoria Colonist, May 6, 1954]
Latest on the baseball situation at Calgary is that the Stampeders will likely remain in the Alberta city. Rumor has it that Norman Lacey and his associates will probably put up the necessary finances. However, if reports are right, there is still quite a problem getting the Calgary park ready for play. It’s said that it was used as a skating rink during the winter and that some of the ice is still there … Victoria baseball fans saw a lot of good shortstopping when the Tyees had Johnny [sic] Clark but they certainly have quite a replacement in veteran Eddie Lake, who gets a big jump on the ball and can throw with the best. And, he’s likely to outhit Clark by quite a margin … Dain Clay has hit safely in each of the seven games the Tyees have played and, almost invariably, he has got the hits when they were needed … One can’t help but wonder why Milt Martin is still in the WIL. The peppery catcher can receive with the best and there aren’t many, if any, catchers in the Coast League who can match that rifle arm. And his hitting is solid even if he won’t get many ankle hits … Tri-City Braves will need considerable help before they are a threat. As long as they get pitching, they can make games interesting but they lack punch. They did get 32 hits in three games here but their extra-base production only amounted to two doubles and a triple. Twenty-nine of their hits were singles … Now that they have Bob Wellman for first base duty, Vancouver Capilanos must be ranked as the team to beat, and more particularly so because they will probably get more pitching from the Seattle Rainiers. Tom Lovrich looms as their next acquisition.
The Sports Herald
KEITH MATTHEWS
[Vancouver News-Herald, May 6, 1954]
The Snow is snowing—back east
A couple of former Capilanos, Chuck Davis, and Frank Mascaro, have apparently hung up their baseball spurs … Davis refused to report to Tri-City when Seattle sold him to Edo Vanni and Mascaro likewise decided in favor of the lunch-bucket when San Francisco peddled his contract to Yakima … Calgary, of course, still has snow and ice on its field … and here we’re worried about out 40-degree evenings.
Dad Storey got his lumps, too
The Capilanos have a left-hander named Bill Tompkins … It was decided he would go to Calgary, but Bill asked the club to reconsider because it was too cold to play baseball there … Reason we mention this is, Bill’s home is in Anchorage, Alaska!
Harvey Storey comes to town again with a couple of priceless stories … During the winter, the family had the run of the mumps … First it was one of the twins, Charlie, who caught the bug … Later, when the other twin, Harvey, Jr., picked it up, Father Storey kidded the youngster as he sent him to bed … Junior was just as sharp as his father, though … “Unless, you’ve got a bad toothache, dad,” he said, “you’d better crawl in here beside me … The boy was right, too. Harv had the mumps.
Another concerns the spring phemon who turned up in Salem to catch a spot with the Senators’ ball club ... The boy couldn’t run, throw or hit and general manager Hugh Luby finally instructed the lad to go home .. The phenom rebutted, “You’re a dirty soandso. Storey likes me but you’ve got a grudge against me. I can’t do anything about it now, bu there’ll be a place for you in the Hereafter where you’ll get yours, Luby.”
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