The Black Bears will play two non-league games against the feeder team, the Northwest Star Nighthawks. The games will be Friday and Saturday at 6:35. The Bears will have a five game homestand before taking off North of the border to play in Edmonton next weekend.
The Bears are coming off back-to-back series wins and have come away victorious in 5 out of their last 6 series. The offense and the pitching have been clicking very well for the last few weeks for Cowlitz no matter their opponent.
The Bend Elks were the last team that the Black Bears had not played this season. Entering the series, Bend was just 1 game behind Cowlitz.
In game 1, the Black Bears offense scored 4 runs in three different innings. Falling one run shy of tying their season high run total. The Bears took down the Elks 16-5 in the series opener. Big contributions from the top three guys in the line-up. Canton, Singer and McCollum all drove in three runs each and had a combined 7 hits. Ely Kennel went 3-5 with three runs scored and three runs batted in as well. Nick Silva picked up his second win of the season (2-2).
In the middle game of the series, the Black Bears struck first in the top of the second inning. Grant Jay unleashed on the first pitch he saw in the inning for a home run to left field. That was the sluggers 5th homer this summer, playing in his final series for the Black Bears. That was the start to what ended up being another 4 run inning. Cowlitz took advantage of walks and errors to extend their early lead. Ely Kennel continued to have a wonderful series in game 2, he went 2-4 with one run scored and two driven in. Kai Francis fed off his last start which was six scoreless against Corvallis. On Wednesday, he went 5 scoreless and only allowed 1 hit. Francis moved to 2-1 this season and lowered his earned run average to 1.05. His last 15 innings of work, he hasn’t allowed a single run.
The Black Bears look for their second sweep of the season and their first on the road with the series finale against the Elks on Thursday evening.
The Northwest Star Nighthawks have gone 1-11 this season against West Coast League teams with the one win a dominant one against the Walla Walla Sweets 8-0 in Eastern Washington.
Join us at the ballpark this weekend for fun promotions including “Dash for Cash” on Saturday, presented by Twin City Bank. For more information about upcoming games and stats, follow us on social media: Twitter (@CowlitzBBears), Facebook and Instagram (@cowlitzblackbears). To watch, listen live, or view the 2023 promotional schedule go to our website cowlitzblackbears.com.