Connor Russell mows ‘em down

"Russ" on the mound for VIBI

With the HarbourCats trailing 8-0 to the Wenatchee AppleSox in the third inning tonight, the team made the call for Connor Russell to come out of the bullpen and try to stop the bleeding.  And stop the bleeding, he did.  Although Wenatchee is the second-best hitting club in the entire league, Russell slammed the door for the rest of the game, allowing no runs and only three hits in 5 1/3 innings on the mound. The sensational outing gave his teammates plenty of opportunities to get back into the game, but the HarbourCats could only put four on the board the rest of the way and they would eventually lose by a score of 8-4.

The lone HarbourCat who had a good night at the plate was David Schuknecht, who homered twice and knocked in three runs. He raised his average to .252 on the season and he is now tied for the team lead in homers (5) with Alex Real and his younger brother John.

Russell’s great work on the mound lowered his ERA to 3.24 this summer, second-best on the HarbourCats among those pitchers who qualify for the ERA title. Only the ace of the team, Bryan Conant, has a better ERA on the squad.  “Russ” now has the 19th-best ERA in the entire West Coast League, an amazing accomplishment considering the adversity he has faced this year. Well done, Connor!!