Catcher Kelly Norris-Jones scored from second on a double by Nathan Lukes in the bottom of the 11th inning on Tuesday night as the Victoria HarbourCats captured their home-opener 6-5 over the Cowlitz Black Bears.
Norris-Jones, a local product and member of the University of Illinois program, came on in relief part-way through the game. He worked a walk to open the 11th and moved over on a Danny Collier bunt. Lukes, a lefty hitter from Sacramento State, launched a flare that was just fair inside the left field line, scoring Norris-Jones.
The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,038 at Sports Traders Diamond at Royal Athletic Park, and many stayed right to the end, boisterous all the way.
The HarbourCats are now 2-2 on the season, tied with divisional-rival Cowlitz for third place, and they will meet again Wednesday and Thursday at Sports Traders Diamond (7:11pm starts both days).
Cowlitz outhit the HarbourCats 13-9, and Victoria trailed 3-1 in the sixth, but tied the game with two runs in the bottom of that inning. The teams exchanged two runs apiece in the seventh inning, and that capped the scoring until Lukes cashed the winning run.
Reliever Tim Peabody was the winning pitcher with 4.1 scoreless innings and six strikeouts, surrendering just three hits. Joe Reta took the loss.
Andrew Nelson, a member of the rotation with the University of Kentucky, gets the call on the mound for the HarbourCats on Wednesday.
BOXSCORE: http://harbourcats.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=208694