KELOWNA, B.C. — A late rally from the Kelowna Falcons saw the Nanaimo NightOwls fall 2-1 on Saturday night from Elks Stadium. A two-run rally from the home side was enough to tie up the series in the 8th inning.
It wasn’t the pitching that hurt the NightOwls on the night, as starter Richtter Castillo threw four innings of two-hit ball while striking out six batters. Not to be outdone, Teague Van Dyke had three scoreless innings not giving up a hit and adding another 4 strikeouts to the NightOwls total.
Trey Langan is the picture of record for Nanaimo despite only giving up two hits and two runs. It is safe to say that pitching could not be blamed on the evening, as the three pitchers combined for just two runs on four hits and 11 strikeouts. The NightOwls couldn’t deal with the Kelowna starting pitcher.
Joel Hogan went all nine innings for the Falcons and had to face just 31 batters in the process. He only walked two and got 3 strikeouts, so he wasn’t carving up the Nanaimo batters; they were just hitting them right at people, and sometimes you have a game like that.
At the plate for the Nanaimo NightOwls there were still a couple of bright spots as Owen Wessel went one for three with a double, run, and a walk. Jacob Hayes continued to keep his hitting streak alive as he went one for four with a single. That moves the streak now to 10 games for the 6’5 first basemen from Azusa Pacific University.
Nathan Davis, Raoul Fabian Jr., and Brady Morse all added in with one hit on the evening. I spoke with Brady after the game,
“Yeah, it was a hard-fought game, and we just didn’t have some hard-hit balls fall our way. Baseball is a weird game like that, sometime where even if you play great, you can still lose. Their pitcher threw really well and attacked the zone. With wood bats, sometimes that’s enough to get the job done.” He finished it off perfectly for the NightOwls, “All we can do is get back tomorrow and bring some intensity.”
It was a hard night to come by hits and runs as the NightOwls had just one run on 5 hits with an error, while the Kelowna Falcons had two runs on four hits, but they didn’t come until late in the game. The series is on the line Sunday, and like Brady said, all we can do is get back tomorrow and bring some intensity!
The Nanaimo NightOwls finish their road trip in Kelowna against the Falcons on Sunday, June 15th. Nanaimo heads back to Victoria for a three-game stint before returning home on June 20th against the Port Angeles Lefties for a weekend series. Make sure to get your tickets and follow the team on our website and social media when they are out on the road for the latest information and updates!
