Wednesday, June 5, 1946

               W  L  Pct GB
Spokane ..... 26 16 .619 —
Salem ....... 26 17 .605 ½
Wenatchee ... 26 18 .591 1
Tacoma ...... 22 17 .564 2½
Bremerton ... 21 19 .525 4
Yakima ...... 19 21 .475 6
Vancouver ... 16 25 .390 9½
Victoria .... 11 34 .244 16½

VICTORIA [Colonist, June 6]—Slowed around and used as stepping stones by other W.I.B.L. clubs all season, Victoria’s tailend Athletics looked like anything but league trailers at Royal Athletic Park last night as they boosted the Salem Senators right out of the top spot by sweeping both ends of a double-header, 6-1 and 13-4, before 1,600 delirious fans.
Getting steady hurling from tiny Pee Wee Bass and Joe Blankenship and uncorking plenty of extra base power at the plate, Athletics were impressive as they two-timed the surprised Salemites. Winners played brilliantly in the field and for once the breaks came their way as they served ample notice that from here in they are hardly likely to be the league door mat.
A cagy veteran with plenty of baseball experience, Bass pitched a cool, heady game in the seven-inning opener as his teammates played faultlessly behind him in the field. He allowed five scattered hits and lost his shutout on Kerr’s second-inning homer.
Kubiak and Crawford greeted the little southpaw with successive singles in the first inning but a double play, caused by Umpire Tuma’s failure to call the out on an infield fly, stopped the Senators without a run and they never could get back into contention.
Athletics went to work in the second frame and shoved over three runs. After Norbert got credit for a lucky infield hit and Marionetti was hit by a pitched ball, Bill Dunn, who is proving to be a valuable acquisition at shortstop, singled in the first run and Marionetti counted the second when he was on the pay-off end of a double steal with Dunn. Buccola later drove Dunn over with the third run.
Bass drove over their fourth run in the fourth and Pete Hughes lifted the ball over the centre-field fence with Buccola on the bags to complete the scoring in the fifth.
ATHLETICS POUND BALL HARD IN SECOND GAME
A new club as they came out for the second game, the A’s lost no time in getting a big jump and drove Ed Kowalski to the showers before the righthander retired a man. Kowalski encountered a streak of wildness and walked four men, with Norbert’s single and Mulcahy’s double each driving in two runners as they marked up six big runs.
Vic Buccola, the fancy-fan first sacker who seems to be finding his batting eye, drove out the first of two home runs to score another pair in the third, and two more were added in the fourth. By the time the seventh inning rolled around, the joyful faithful rose as a man and rendered a rousing rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game!”
Athletics responded with another three-run outburst, featured by Hughes’ tremendous triple and Buccola’s second four-master.
Backed by the steady fielding of his club, Blankenship preserved the shutout until the eighth when Salem scored once. Losers put on a long rally in the eighth when they slapped out five singles to count three times. The game was called after seven and one-half innings due to the curfew law.
Fourth game of the series will be played tonight, commencing at 8. John Carpenter will toe the slab for the Athletics, with Steve Gerkin, last year with the Philadelphia Athletics, out to stop the roused Victorians.
First game:
Salem ............ 010 000 0—1 5 3
Victoria .......... 030 120 x—6 9 0
Schubel and Kerr; Bass and Mulcahy.
Second game:
Salem ............ 000 000 13— 4 13 1
Victoria .......... 602 200 3x—13 14 2
Kowalski, Soderburg (1) and Kerr; Blankenship and Mulcahy.
(Called eight innings, curfew).

SPOKANE — The Spokane Indians forced one Tacoma pitcher off the mound in a six-run fourth inning and coasted to an 8 to 4 victory over the Tigers.
Tacoma ............ 030 000 100—4 8 3
Spokane ........... 001 600 01x—8 13 4
Sostre, Hedington (4), and Kemper; Kinnamon and Paulson.

WENATCHEE — Behind the four-hit pitching of Joe Vivalda, the Wenatchee Chiefs defeated the Yakima Stars 8 to 2 to even their league series at a game apiece.
Yakima ........... 000 000 101—2 4 3
Wenatchee ..... 401 300 000—8 10 1
Marshall, O'Boyle (4) and McConnell; Vivalda and Pesut.

Bremerton at Vancouver, postponed.

CAPS AVERAGES (hits-at bats)
Estes, .433 (13-30); Bryant, .429 (6-14); Hedgecock, .391 (9-23); Palica, .316 (6-19); Ortieg, .303 (10-33); Brenner, .300 (9-30); Spurgeon, .291 (30-103); Estrada, .279 (43-154); Kretchmar, .262 (39-149); Silverthorn, .260 (34-131); Ramsey, .256 (10-30); Gulan, .242 (16-66); Mullens, .224 (36-161); Clarkson, .218 (19-87); Bonnell, .209 (29-139); Snyder, .083 (1-12).

CAPS PITCHING (win-loss)
Anderson, 5-1; Bryant, 3-3; Orteig, 2-2; Palica, 3-5; Hedgecock, 2-3; Snyder, 1-4.