C’s Off To Whale Of A Start

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- The Vancouver Canadians continued an historic run Thursday with their third dramatic win of the week.

Jeff Wehler broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run home run to left field with two outs in the seventh inning and the C’s (6-0 second half, 36-33 overall) held off a Hillsboro rally in the ninth for a 6-5 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 6,413 at Nat Bailey Stadium.

The Canadians have opened the second half of the Northwest League season with six consecutive victories, their best start in the High-A era.

Naswell Paulino (3-0) was credited with the win after replacing the injured Connor Larkin to get the final out in the top half of the seventh. Jean Walters had sent a screaming shot off the back of Larkin's right leg with two outs in the inning, sending the former Nittany Lion limping back to the clubhouse. Earlier in the inning, Larkin had allowed a leadoff home run to left by Kevin Sim that tied the game 3-3. Paulino fanned Gavin Conticello, stranding the go-ahead runs on base.

Hops reliever Zane Russell (2-2) was also involved in an injurious end to the sixth inning. Coming on to face Canadians' leadoff hitter Jamari Baylor after Landon Sims issued three walks, Russell got the count to 0-2 before Baylor walked off the field with an apparent wrist injury. Jean Arnaez inherited the 0-2 count, whiffing on one high fastball to end the inning.

The only thing hurt in the seventh was Russell's pride. A leadoff walk put Jace Bohrofen aboard. Two outs later, Je'von Ward laced a single to right. Then Wehler hit a 1-2 Russell pitch into the Canadians' bullpen to give Vancouver a 6-3 lead.

Paulino mowed down the heart of Hillsboro's order with three more strikeouts in the eighth, but ran into trouble in the ninth inning, issuing back-to-back one out bases balls to Gavin Logan and Cole Roberts. The C's summoned 6-5 right hander Johnathan Lavallee from the bullpen to face the pinch-hitting Christian Cerda, who succumbed on three straight strikes.

But the Hops were determined to put the scheduled fireworks show on hold. Walters hit a seeing-eye chopper through the shortstop hole to score Logan. Then Conticello followed with a base hit to right center, plating Roberts and sending Walters to third base representing the tying run. Jack Hurley got to a 3-2 count, but couldn't connect with a 94 mph fastball and the Hops (1-5, 36-35) dropped their fourth straight game.

Walters followed up Wednesday's four hit effort by reaching base four more times, going 3-for-4 with a walk. Roberts had another productive night at the plate, driving in the Hops' first run with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly before contributing to the ninth-inning rally with a walk. Sim finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Wehler had two hits for the second straight game since being reactivated from the injured list, reaching base three times. Ward also had two hits and a walk one night after a three-hit effort on Wednesday.

Vancouver got on the board with back-to-back doubles from Dylan Rock and Robert Brooks in the third inning before Sim led off the fifth with a sharp single to right. Hillsboro was finally able to manufacture a run after struggling to do so in the first two games of the series. Sim went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Logan's fly ball to the warning track in right, then came home on Roberts' fly to center.

The Hops took a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning when Conticello walked, advanced to third on a wild pitch and errant throw to second by Brooks, then came home on Junior Franco's two-out single to center.

Vancouver starting pitcher Connor O'Halloran, a 2023 5th-round draft pick out of Michigan, allowed two runs, one earned on four hits over six innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

Hillsboro's starter Logan Clayton departed in the sixth after allowing a leadoff single to Nick Goodwin. Sims came out of the pen and promptly walked the bases full before fanning Rock. After Brooks hit a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game, Sims issued his third walk with ball four to Jommer Hernandez squirting through the legs of Logan for a passed ball, scoring Ward from third to give Vancouver a 3-2 lead.

The Hops outhit the Canadians 8-7, but fell to 1-8 at Nat Bailey Stadium this year and 4-11 overall against the Canadians.

The Hops and Canadians close out their six-game series with a weekend full of "nooners" Friday's, Saturday's and Sunday's game are all scheduled for 1:05 p.m. starts. Pregame coverage on radio begins at 12:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM.