Season In Review: How The C's Built a Winner

Vancouver finished the first half of the season 21-17 and now with a place in the post-season secured start the race all over again

By Rob Fai

July 24, 2017

(Volcanoes Stadium - Keizer, OR) - Say what you will about the up and down season that the Vancouver Canadians have endured over the first 38 games of the season, at the end of the day a trip to the post-season awaits. That's the good news. The Canadians are now back into the fray as the second half of the Northwest League season gets underway later tonight in Salem-Keizer as Vancouver wraps up a five-game series against the Volcanoes down in Oregon.
All eight teams woke up with 0-0 (.000) records and a shot to win the second half pennant with Vancouver and Hillsboro likely feeling a little relived that they don't have to fight tooth and nail to see if they will play in the second season.
Here is a look at the head-to-head records for the Canadians against each team that they faced over the first half of the season (alphabetically);
at Boise (July 6-10) - Hawks win series 3-2
The Canadians won the first two games of this series but ran out of gas over the final three nights as this series capped off a lengthy road trip that began in Spokane. Boise outscored the Canadians 31-17 in this series with 13 of those runs coming in a 13-1 blowout of Vancouver to end the series. Average temperature over these five games was 98.6 degrees.
Top hitter:
C Riley Adams .412 (7-for-17) with two doubles and four RBI
Honourable Mention:
1B Kacy Clemens .333 (5-for-15) with team-leading five RBI
Top pitcher:
RHP Wilfri Aleton (1-0, 0.00) five scoreless, no walks, five strikeouts
Honourable Mention:
LHP Jake Fishman (0-0, 0.00) three innings, one hit, five strikeouts
Next Meeting:
August 26-30 at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium [Tickets]
at Eugene (June 15-19) - Canadians win series 3-2
Vancouver opened on the road and over the past decade was 5-1 (.833) to start the season away from home with the only loss over that span coming ironically against the Emeralds. The Canadians looked impressive out of the gates as manager Rich Miller saw his staff start the season with two straight victories (6-1, 7-0) before Eugene came back with a pair of wins (4-2, 6-1) setting up the rubber match that showcased the Canadians ability to score runs in bunches as a five-run top of the 7^th inning that featured back-to-back RBI doubles from Lance Jones and Chavez Young helped the C's win the first series of the season.
vs. Eugene (June 29 - July 3) - Canadians win series 3-2
Just nine days after they met in Eugene, the Canadians and Emeralds locked horns once again back in Vancouver in a five-game series that ended up being significantly different from the first one down in Oregon. Vancouver took the opener 2-1 in a game that took 12 innings to play as RHP Brayden Bouchey and LHP Miguel Burgos each uncorked a wild pitch that helped Eugene even the game at 1-1 in the top of the 8^th inning. In the bottom of the 12^th frame, Canadians LF Norberto Obeso led off with a single and later scored, ironically on a wild pitch, to give the C's a 2-1 win and improve to 4-2 on the season vs. Eugene.
Vancouver would drop two of the next three games, but in the rubber match, Vancouver one last time got the better of the defending Northwest League Champions with a 7-2 victory led by RHP Juan Nunez who got a little help from the offense that scored five runs over the game's first two innings.
Top Hitter vs. Eugene:
C Riley Adams (.583, 7-for-12) three doubles, four RBI
Honourable Mention:
OF Lance Jones (.385, 5-for13) double, RBI
Top Pitcher vs. Eugene:
RHP Juan Nunez (2-0, 1.74) 10.1 innings, seven strikeouts, four hits
Honourable Mention:
RHP William Ouellette (2-0, 1.13) 8.0 innings nine strikeouts, one run
Next Meeting:
No more regular season games scheduled
vs. Everett (June 20-22) - Canadians win series 2-1
Riding high off of their first series of the season down in Eugene and now heading into Vancouver for the home opener, Vancouver blew past the Everett Aquasox in the opener topping the Seattle Mariners affiliate 7-1 behind RHP Jose Espada's 4 2/3 innings of work followed by LHP Juliandry Higuera's 2 1/3 innings were they only allowed one run on five hits to pace the C's. Vancouver showed once again their willingness and ability to throw crooked numbers on the manually operated scoreboard as a six-run bottom of the 6^th inning put the cherry on a 7-1 final for Vancouver. The win improved them to 4-2 on the season. An 8-4 victory the next night featured a pair of triples from C Javier Hernandez, but the Aquasox escaped with a victory to wrap the series as they snuck out of Vancouver with a 5-1 victory as Brayan Hernandez homered and drove in two handing RHP Dalton Rodriguez the loss.
at Everett (June 26-28) - Aquasox win series 2-1
2B Joe Rosa exposed the Memorial Stadium short porch in right-center field as he hit his 3^rd home run of the season that set the tone for an explosive three-game series between these two bitter North Division rivals. The Aquasox
would pound Vancouver in the opener winning 9-2 and that would be followed up by a 15-13 Canadians victory that saw Vancouver up by as many as seven runs and then down by two heading to the top of the 9^th inning where they would score four runs to stun Everett. There were seven multi-run innings, 32 hits, 28 runs, and 10 pitchers used before the dust had settled on the Canadians tying up of the series. In the finale, both teams looked exhausted with Everett finding a little more in the proverbial gas tank hold on for a 7-5 victory in a game that despite the Canadians being behind 7-2, scored a run in the top of the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th innings to try and rally late. Vancouver brought the lead run to the plate in the top of the 9^th, but 1B Kacy Clemens flew out to end the game and the series.
Top Hitter:
1B Kacy Clemens (.353, 6-for-17) two home runs, five RBI, clutch bat
Honourable Mention:
OF Lance Jones (.462, 6-for-13) double, four RBI
Top Pitcher:
RHP Jose Espada (0-1, 3.00) 13 strikeouts, five hits, three runs
Honourable Mention:
LHP Grayson Huffman (1-0, 1.69) 5 1/3 innings, five strikeouts
Next Meeting:
August 20-22 at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium [Tickets]
vs. Hillsboro Hops (July 15-19) - Hillsboro wins series 5-0
Like slowly peeling an oversized band-aid off from a hairy leg, the Vancouver Canadians were over-matched after losing the opener of this five-game series against Hillsboro (affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks). In the opener, Hillsboro scored four in the top of the 1^st inning and that was it as the Canadians managed two runs in the bottom of the 1^st and one more in the home half of the 5^th inning.
The Canadians never led over this series 45 innings as the Hops outscored Vancouver 44-13 including a 19-7 blowout that for the first time in years had fans booing the C's at home.
Vancouver's top hitters were limited as Riley Adams was 1-for-12 (.083), Kacy Clemens was 1-for-11 (.091) and Kevin Vicuña was 2-for-14 (.143). The Canadians as a team hit .157 (24-for-153) while the pitching staff walked away licking their wounds with an ERA of 7.00.
While Vancouver put up 24 hits as a team over the five-game series, Arizona Diamondbacks 1^st Round Selection Pavin Smith went 10-for-19 (.526) with a double, triple and five RBI. Eudy Ramos (9-for-18) and Camden Duzenack (8-for-21) also crippled the Canadians as the 1-2-3 in the order for Hillsboro outhit the entire Canadians roster for those five punishing days.
Top Hitter:
David Jacob - 4-for-16 (.250) with grand slam and six RBI
Honourable Mention:
Logan Warmoth - 2-for-8 (.250) made C's debut, tough time to arrive
Top Pitcher:
Orlando Pascual - 0-0, 0.00 - In two innings, no runs, struck out five
Honourable Mention:
Jake Fishman - 0-0, 0.00 - In four appearances, no hits, six K's
Next Meeting:
August 3-7 at Ron Tonkin Field (coming out of All-Star Break)
at Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (July 20-24) - Canadians win series 3-1 (*game pending tonight)
The Canadians came into this series with their playoff fate still up in the air meaning that each of the first three games had a lot of meaning. This was also the series following one of the biggest drubbings in franchise history as Vancouver was coming off of a five-game beatdown at the hands of the Hillsboro Hops (see above).
Through the first four games of this series, the Canadians went from hitting .156 vs. Hillsboro to hitting .316 (48-for-152) with 29 runs and three victories that helped seal the North Division First-Half pennant. The Canadians traded wins with Salem-Keizer (8-3, 6-12) to start the five-game series, and then on July 22^nd, Vancouver hung on for a 7-6 victory that helped punch a ticket to the post-season with RHP Orlando Pascual and RHP William Ouellette sealing the victory from the back of the bullpen.
SS Kevin Vicuna (8-for-18, .444) and CF Reggie Pruitt (6-for-15, .400) proved to make the top of the Canadians formidable while 1B Kacy Clemens (6-for-13, .462) and SS Logan Warmoth (7-for-14, .500) have rounded out an offense that through four games in this series have produced 29 runs. By comparison, the Volcanoes have hit .223 (29-for130) and have struck out 32 times (8.0per game).
Top Hitter:
Logan Warmoth (7-for-14, .500) - timely hitting, two triples
Honourable Mention:
Kacy Clemens (6-for-13, .462) - 3^rd home run, team-leading 7 RBI.
Top Pitcher:
Chris Hall (0-0, 0.00) - Two appearances, no hits, three innings
Honourable Mention:
Nate Pearson )0-0, 0.00) - 100mph fastball, three K's, awesome.
Next Series:
August 11-15 at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium [Tickets]
vs. Spokane Indians (June 23-25) - Canadians sweep series 3-0
The Canadians offense was firing on all cylinders during this three-game series as Vancouver had just come off a three-game homestand against Everett taking two from the Aquasox. Vancouver produced 26 runs (8.67per) against an Indians pitching staff that struggled. Alex Speas of the Indians went 1 2/3 innings on June 24 as the Canadians chased the starter in the 2^nd inning as they rallied for six runs, four charged to Speas as Vancouver would pull away late for a 10-4 victory to improve to 7-3 (.700).
3B Bryan Lizardo had a large series going 2-for-4 on July 24 with four (4) RBI while OF brock Lundquist hit his first triple of the season. The Canadians pounded out 15 hits in the series finale with Lundquist going 3-for-4 to move to 7-for-14 (.500) on the young season while C Riley Adams hit his first professional home run in the bottom of the 4^th inning off of Spokane starter RHP Tyree Thompson.
at Spokane Indians (July 4-5) - Canadians sweep series 2-0
Kicking off a seven-game road trip that would end down in Boise, the Canadians had two quick ones in Spokane that started with over 7,000 fans looking for some 4^th of July fireworks. Vancouver however was just coming off back-to-back victories over Eugene and brought that momentum down to Washington as the Canadians blanked the Indians 5-0 with RHP Dalton Rodriguez outlasting RHP Cole Ragans handing him his first loss of the summer despite seeing his ERA drop to 2.12.
Vancouver showed it could win the pressure games in front of a large crowd and it also showed in the finale that they could win the tightly contested ones as well as Kyle Weatherly went seven innings of seven hit baseball, striking out five and giving up two (2) solo home runs to C Melvin Novoa and DH Clayton Middleton to cut the Canadians lead to 3-2. RHP Bobby Eveld (1.0IP) and RHP William Ouellette (1.0IP) threw scoreless innings to improve the Canadians to 14-7 (.667) on the season and 5-0 (1.000) vs. Spokane over the first five head-to-head games of the summer.
vs. Spokane Indians (July 12-14) - Canadians win series 2-1
The Indians finally got a win from Vancouver to open a three-game series on July 12^th shortly after the Canadians enjoyed an alleged off-day (July 11^th was a day that the Canadians had a 12-hour bus drive back from Boise, ID). Spokane broke out for a five-run top of the 4^th inning off of RHP WIlfri Aleton who struggled giving up all six runs on eight hits and walked three as well to drop to 2-2 on the season.
Vancouver would bounce back with a pair of wins to improve to 7-1 (.875) vs. Spokane and 5-1 (.833) at home. In the series finale, Vancouver would take a 2-1 lead to the top of the 9^th and allow the Indians to even things up when RHP Orlando Pascual made one of his few mistakes this summer leaving a pitch up that C Melvin Novoa hit for his 3^rd home run of the season. The Canadians would walk it off in the bottom of the 12^th inning just seconds after Spokane grabbed a 3-2 lead in the top half of the frame. Vancouver CF Reggie Pruitt led off with a double and scored on a Logan Warmoth single. Warmoth would score from first base on a double into the left field corner off the bat of C Riley Adams sending the sold-out crowd (those who remained) into a frenzy as the Canadians continued their ascent toward the top of the North Division.
Top Hitter:
Riley Adams (.343) 12-for-35, two home runs, nine RBI, five 2B
Honourable Mention:
Brandon Polizzi (.500) 5-for-10, double, triple, big defense
Top Pitcher:
Dany Jimenez (1-0, 1.50) six innings, two hits, nine strikeouts
Honourable Mention:
Dalton Rodriguez (1-0, 0.00) seven innings, four hits, no runs
Next Series:
at Spokane Indians (August 16-19)
vs./at Tri-City (no games played as of yet)
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Remaining Series for Vancouver Canadians:
July 25-27                         at Tri-City Dust Devils                 0-0 this season
July 28-30                         vs. Tri-City Dust Devils                0-0 this season
August 3-7                        at Hillsboro Hops                          0-5 this season
August 8-10                     vs. Tri-City Dust Devils                0-0 this season
August 11-15                   vs. Salem-Keizer Volcanoes       3-1 this season
August 16-19                   at Spokane Indians                       7-1 this season
August 20-22                   vs. Everett Aquasox                      3-3 this season
August 23-25                   at Everett Aquasox                       3-3 this season
August 26-30                   vs. Boise Hawks                             2-3 this season
September 1-3                at Tri-City Dust Devils                 0-0 this season