Victoria HarbourCats general manager Brad Norris-Jones quipped to slugger Hunter Vansau, following Tuesday night’s 10-3 West Coast League victory over the Walla Walla Sweets: “Hey Hunter, are you going to move to Victoria?”
Vansau replied: “If you get a pro team up here, maybe.”
Vansau, the NCAA Div. 1 College World Series player with Mississippi State, launched his fourth home run since re-joining the HarbourCats after mid-season, to extend his career franchise record to 12 dingers, now two better than Kevin Collard’s previous franchise record of 10. Vansau hit eight home runs last season.
It was the exclamation point on a three-for-five night with two RBIs for Vansau, a native of Crawford, Texas.
“I came into the season with that goal in mind and it has been lots of fun chasing the record and getting it,” said Vansau, who is heading into his senior year at Mississippi State.
And now, extending it.
The HabourCats were missing six players and two assistant coaches to one-game suspensions because of a dugout-emptying scuffle in a loss Monday night in Port Angeles against the Lefties.
“It turned into a hockey game pretty quickly,” said Vansau.
There was a bit of pushing and shoving late in Tuesday’s game, as well, against Walla Walla, but it was muted compared to the Port Angeles incident and no repercussions are expected because of it.
Gunner Friend had a strong outing as starter for Victoria, allowing four hits over five complete innings with three strikeouts and one walk.
“Gunner did really well for us, and we were able to put up some runs in support for him,” said Vansau.
Included in the Victoria offensive output were home runs by Vansau, Dustin Demeter and Jaxxon Fagg.
Ryan Ober, named WCL player of the week last week, continued his fine play as the 2018 NCAA College World Series champion with the Oregon State Beavers had a hit, run scored and RBI in two trips to the plate and is now batting .340 since joining Victoria just before the second half of the season.
The old adage is that Walla Walla is a town so great they named it twice. The HarbourCats hope it’s twice as nice tonight, when they continue their series against the Sweets.
The opening night of the set, which concludes with the final game Thursday night, was sweet salve for a HarbourCats team that limped in after being swept 3-0 across the strait by the Lefties in Port Angeles.
Victoria (7-9 in the second half and 21-22 overall) has a rather desperate quest on its hands in trying for the second-half North Division crown, something it must do in order to make the playoffs.
The Sweets (7-6 in the second half and 22-18 overall in the South Division) were coming off an 11-3 victory over the Cowlitz Black Bears on Monday night, but a heavy day of travel clearly took a toll.
