Quintin Torres-Costa missed a lot of bats on Thursday, but he sure didn't miss the strikezone.
The left-handed pitcher from the University of Hawaii went four overpowering innings with 12 strikeouts, just one walk, and four hits allowed. He gave up one run and got the win in a 7-1 victory for the Victoria HarbourCats over the visiting Klamath Falls Gems in a game played in front of 1,635 spectators at Sports Traders Diamond.
The HarbourCats lead the West Coast League in attendance with an average of 1,500 per game.
On a night when the HarbourCats welcomed the Victoria Chamber of Commerce for a 'mixer' and local restaurant icon Howie Seigel of Pagliacci's celebrated 35 years in business with one of the more memorable first pitches you will ever see -- he was called for a balk and ejected -- Angel Delgado and Ryan Keller each threw one scoreless inning to complete the win.
Nathan Lukes was 3-4 and Wyler Smith had two runs driven in as the HarbourCats banged out a combined 10 hits, six more than the Gems. Victoria scored three times in the eighth inning to break open a 4-1 game.
The HarbourCats improved to 15-19, while Klamath Falls fell to 9-25 on the West Coast League season.
The HarbourCats will send all-star right-hander Logan Lombana to the mound on Friday against Klamath Falls in a big night promotionally in Victoria -- it's Harvey the HarbourCat Bobblehead Night, with the first 1,500 through the gates getting a bobblehead thanks to Synergy Health and Wellness and the Times Colonist.