Monday, May 30, 1949

STANDINGS
W L Pct. GB
Yakima ...... 29 11 .725 —
Vancouver ... 23 15 .605 5
Salem ....... 21 17 .553 7
Wenatchee ... 19 22 .463 10½
Bremerton ... 19 23 .452 11
Spokane ..... 16 23 .410 12½
Tacoma ...... 17 25 .405 13
Victoria .... 17 25 .405 13

TACOMA [Victoria Colonist, May 31]—Reluctance of Umpire Jerry Mathieu to call a game-ending third strike on a Tacoma batter yesterday cost Victoria Athletics a clean sweep at Tacoma in their holiday twin-bill with the Tigers. Two singles followed to plate the tying and winning runs in the 6-5 game. The A’s came from behind to win the nine-inning opener, 10-6. In was their only victory of the four-game series. They were blanked twice Sunday, 4-0 and 7-0.
Trailing, 4-2, going into the last frame of the nightcap, the A’s were out in front when Frank Finnegan poled a 2-2 pitch out of the lot with two out and John Hack and Jim Propst on the bags. Propst, who joined the club yesterday, batted for Russ Walseth and kept the rally alive with a single.
A BAD BREAK
Larry Ward was sent in to protect the lead and the tall right-hander took the first two batters on easy infield rollers before losing his control to walk Bob Johnson and Hank Sciarra. With a 2-2 count on Jep Holmes, Ward apparently caught the corner with his next pitch and started for the dugout. Mathieu called it a ball and stuck with his decision, although manager Ted Norbert was voluable in protest. Holmes then dropped a blooper just out of Gil McDougald’s reach and Ray Fortier, who ran for Johnson, scored the tying run. Joe Kaney sent in the winning by connecting with Ward’s first delivery for another single.
JOHNSON WINS ANOTHER
Manager Johnson went the distance for the Tigers to gain his second decision over the Norbertmen. He gave up only five hits with Hack’s double driving in the first two Victoria runs. Frank Prowse started for the A’s but left in favor of Pete Vucurevich in the second inning when encountered trouble finding the plate. Shelled out in the first game, Vucurevich was stingy with base hits but also had control difficulties. The three Victoria hurlers gave up eleven bases on balls.
Down, 5-0, when the Tigers pounced on Vucurevich in the first frame of the opener, the Victorians put together five hits and a sacrifice for four runs in the fourth, missing an even bigger inning when Eddie Barr made a good catch of Frank Matoh’s lengthy drive with two aboard and two out. The Tigers made it 6-4 in the sixth when their scored their lone run off Rex Jones, who turned in a brilliant relief stint to gain credit for the win.
MATOH WINS OPENER
Matoh won it in the seventh when he connected for a three-run homer to make it 7-6. The A’s added three insurance runs in the ninth. On Sunday the A’s could do nothing right. They wasted two adequate pitching performances by Frank Logue and Tobey Tobias. Logue was scored on in only two innings of the regulation opener. Tobias, who made his first start in the nightcap, looked good but was the victim of six errors which accounted for as many unearned runs.
BALASSI LOST?
Victoria opens a three-game series with the lowly but dangerous Spokane Indians tonight. Propst is almost certain to be thrown into action with the A’s mound staff badly used up. The badly-needed Charlie Balassi has not yet put in an appearance and is already 11 days en route from Augusta. One more change announced by the A¨s, who sent Outfielder Sol Israel, who reported with a .300 batting average, to Ventura. Israel has refused to report and is back at his Seattle home. He will probably be placed on the ineligible list.
First game
Victoria ......... 040 000 303—10 13 0
Tacoma ......... 500 001 000—6 12 3
Vucurevich, Jones (1) and Day; Lazor, Knezovich (2), Kerrigan (9) and Warren.
Second game
Victoria ......... 200 000 3—5 5 0
Tacoma ......... 200 200 2—6 6 0
Prowse, Vucurevich (2), Ward (7) and Morgan; Johnson and Holmes.

BREMERTON, May 30—Bremerton manager Alan Strange's occasional custom of picking his line-up out of a hat didn't change his luck today. The Vancouver Capilanos took undisputed possession of second place in the Western International League by sweeping a Memorial Day double-header from the Bluejackets, 13-5 and 7-2, to run their win streak to nine straight.
The Caps jumped on four Bremerton hurlers for 14 hits in the seven-inning opener, and literally knocked reliever Frank Pirack out of the game. He was hit on the shin by a line drive from Hunk Anderson's bat and was taken from the field on a stretcher.
Vancouver hammered John Marshall for 11 more in the nightcap, Jim Robinson pounding him for a triple, double and a single. George Nicholas went the route for the Caps, setting the Tars down with five hits, one of them an inside-the-park homer by Lou Briganti.
First game
Vancouver .......... 100 423 3—13 14 0
Bremerton .......... 100 400 0—5 7 4
Gunnarson, Anderson (4) and Brenner; Seamster, Halstead (2), Pirack (5), Ragni (6) and Ronning.
Second game
Vancouver ........... 200 120 1—8 14 1
Bremerton ........... 001 000 100—2 5 2
Nicholas and Sheely; Marshall and Ronning, Corey (9).

WENATCHEE, May 30—The Spokane Indians twice knifed Wenatchee, 8-3 and 19-8, on Memorial Day to scramble into sixth place in the Western International League.
The Spokes bombed 14 hits in the first game, while Dick Bishop was yielding five, and raked three Chief chukkers for 21 blows in the nightcap.
Wenatchee propelled four futile fence-toppers in the second game. Hal Rhyne of the Chiefs ran his hitting streak to 31 games with a one-for-four in the opener and five-for-five, including a homer, in the night-owl stampede.
First game
Spokane ............ 301 120 1—5 14 1
Wenatchee ........ 000 000 3—3 5 3
Bishop and Rossi; Stevens, McCollum (2) and Pesut.
Second game
Spokane ........... 401 201 614—19 21 2
Wenatchee ....... 110 011 211—8 15 4
Werbowski and Rossi; Greenlaw, Frick (1), Stevens (7) and Pesut.

YAKIMA, May 30—Yakima's pennant gold seemed safe today from the shattered threat of Salem, but a new peril
appeared in the gathering rush of the Vancouver Capilanos.
Yakima edged the Senators, 6-5, when Snag Moore poled a lead-off homer in the first extra frame of the scheduled seven inning opener. The Bears sprung three-run rallies in the seventh and eighth chukkers to score a 9-7 uphill triumph in the regulation afterpiece.
The double win dropped Salem into third place.
First game
Salem ........... 000 320 00—5 8 0
Yakima ........ 400 000 11—6 10 1
Olson and Beard; Bradford and Orteig.
Second game
Salem .......... 303 010 000—7 12 1
Yakima ........ 000 303 33x—9 11 3
G.Peterson, Bianco (7), Osborn (8) and Carlson; B. Drilling, Saravese (8) and Orteig.

Indians Sign Babbitt
SPOKANE, May 30—Gene Babbitt, ace relief pitcher for the Spokane Indians last year, will join the lagging 1949 baseball team tomorrow, club officials said today.
Babbitt had been a holdout for better terms. His salary was not announced.