Saturday, May 25, 1946

                 W  L  Pct GB
Wenatchee ..... 20 12 .625 —
Salem ......... 18 12 .600 1
Yakima ........ 16 12 .571 2
Spokane ....... 17 15 .531 3
Tacoma ........ 14 13 .519 3½
Bremerton ..... 14 15 .483 4½
Vancouver ..... 14 18 .438 6
Victoria ....... 8 24 .250 12

YAKIMA — Yakima broke a 4-all deadlock with an eight run splurge in the eighth inning and weathered a retailiating rally to beat Tacoma's Tigers Saturday, 12-8.
Roy Peterson clouted three doubles for the losers and Harlond Clift a home run for Yakima.
Tacoma ....... 010 002 014— 8 15 4
Yakima ........ 003 010 08x—12 12 0
Martin, Jimmink (8) and Kemper; Yaylian and Gibb.

BREMERTON — Bremerton took a 3-2 edge over Salem's Senators in their Western International league game Saturday hammering three twirlers for 14 hits and a 13 to 5 victory.
It was a hard-hitting contest. Salem's five hits included two homers and three doubles while Joe Gedzius of Bremerton hit a homer with one aboard and also connected for two doubles.
Salem's home run hitters were Lou Kubiak and Henry Bartolomei, both of whom got their clouts with a mate aboard.
Salem ............ 000 022 001—5  5 5
Bremerton ...... 004 011 34x—13 14 3
Kowalski, Hess (6), Wyatt (8) and Kerr; Holt and Volpi.

VICTORIA — Aided by the home run hitting of Eddie Fitzgerald and Jim Marsh, with the latter poling out what proved to be the winner, the Wenatchee Chiefs nudged the Victoria Athletics 4-3 in the matinee encounter of a pair of games Saturday.
The Chiefs made it two straight with an 8-5, tenth inning win in the nightcap.
The decisive run proved to be a 360 foot solo homer over the Vancouver Avenue fence by Jim Warner in the ninth. The run was needed as the Athletics came back with a pair in their half of the inning. Bob Cherry tripled to deep left field to score a pair but got stranded at third.
Eddie Fitzgerald smashed a pair of homers in the late game. Extras were needed when Al Steele walked in the ninth, stole second and scored on Ian Lowe's base hit.
The Chiefs came back with added power in their bats in the first of the tenth. They rapped a double and a triple off Blankenship, who was replaced with Bob Jensen. But he gave up four base hits for a pair of runs.
First Game
Wenatchee ........ 000 010 201—4 7 2
Victoria ............. 100 000 002—3 7 3
Cronin and Fitzgerald; Ferrara and Mulcahy.
Second game
Wenatchee ........ 101 001 020 4—8 18 3
Victoria ............. 003 100 001 0—5  7 1
Babbitt and Fitzgerald; Jensen (10) and Mulcahy.

VANCOUVER [Clancy Loranger, News-Herald, May 27—And so our Caps bade farewell to the Spokane Indians, whom they had learned to love, and to the Vancouver baseball fans who had learned to love them, and headed for Salem, where they intend to teach the Senators a few things.
It was a joyous band of Caps who set their sights for the Oregon capitol for Saturday night at Cap Stadium the locals, who had already clinched their first series victory against Spokane, rubbed it in by taking a 5-4 thriller from the visitors. It was their third straight triumph over the Indian, and wound up the series with a 5-2 edge for Syl Johnson’s boys.
Although their convincing series win over the Spokes did wonders for the morale of the Brownies, it didn’t manage to get them out of seventh spot. The Vancouver nine isn’t far off the pace, though, and any kind of a margin against the Senators, who have won just six of their last 19 games, and they might be in the first division. Our lads open their seven-game stint in Salem Tuesday, then come back home for a one-week stay against Bremerton the following Tuesday.
A THRILLER
Saturday’s tilt, for the second straight night, had the capacity house chewing on neighboring fingernails right down to the last out.
Besides the odd nervous breakdown, it also provided a new hero for bleacherites, Ray Spurgeon, Willamette University’s gift to the Caps, (via Tacoma Tigers) took the bows Saturday.
Rat, the smart young catcher with the rifle arm, was a one-man Murderer’s Row, keeping the locals in the contest all the way with two home runs and a triple.
After Vic Picetti had put Spokane ahead with a two-run homer off Ron Bryant in the second, Spurgeon got one back by dumping one of Joe Faria’s best into Sixth Avenue in the Vancouver half of the inning.
Three singles sent the visitors out in front again in the fourth, 3-1, but Spurgeon started the Caps on the victory road again in the seventh, popping homer number two over the wall. We went on to tie the score on a lucky break, when the Spokane outfield, infield and the umpires lost sight of Bryant`s high pop fly to left field, Ron pulling in at third.
SPURGEON AGAIN
The desperate Tribe went one up again in the eighth, but they reckoned without Mr. Spurgeon. Al Kretchmar opened up the eighth with a smart bunt, was sacrificed to second and took third on an infield out. Spurgeon then splattered Faria`s first pitch for three bases, and he trotted home with the winning run as Art Bonnell singled sharply inside the third sack.
It was a highly successful finish to Vancouver`s most successful week in the W.I.L. Next step, says Mr. Johnson, is to win a series on the road. Salem, for instance.
Spokane .......... 020 100 010—4 14 0
Vancouver ....... 010 000 22x—5  9 0
Faria and Clifford; Bryant and Spurgeon.

WIL STATS
Averages reveal that hitters are still well ahead of the hurlers, with no fewer than 25 regulars over the .300 mark and a dozen others close.
Bob Hedington, Tacoma, is the new batting leader with 21 hits in 38 trips for a .435 average. Glen Stetter, Wenatchee, is the runner-up, with a mark of .426. Catcher Gibbs, Yakima, is the only other player in the .400 circle.
Gene Thompson, Yakima, leads in hits with 28, and shares the leadership in the important runs-batted in column with George Vico, Salem, each with 25. Harlond Clift, former St. Louis Browns’ third sacker now managing Yakima, leads in runs scored with 25.
Yakima is setting the pace in club batting with a team average of .317, followed by Wenatchee at .385.
Defensively, the best club is Bremerton with a club fielding mark of .956, followed by Wenatchee, Vancouver, Spokane, Yakima, Tacoma, Salem and Victoria, in that order. Athletics have miscued 53 times in the 18 games played at the time the averages were compiled for an average of .925.
Pitching records reveal that Milt Cadinha, Spokane, Al Raimondi, Victoria, Richie Colombo, Tacoma, and Carl Gunnarson, Salem, tied with three victories and no losses.
AB R H RBI Ave
Hedington, Tacoma ..... 48  8 21  8 .435
Stetter, Wenatchee .... 54 18 23  9 .426
Gibb, Yakima .......... 35  6 14  9 .400
Vico, Salem ........... 65 19 25 25 .385
Risk, Spokane ......... 68 13 26  5 .382
Crawford, Salem ....... 21  2  8  6 .381
Greco, Tacoma ......... 16  5  6  7 .375
Martinez, Spokane ..... 47 11 17 12 .362
Thompson, Yakima ...... 78 14 28 25 .359
Salmon, Salem ......... 39  6 14 14 .359
DeVaurs, Bremerton .... 59  8 21  8 .356
Garbe, Yakima ......... 76 22 27 13 .355