RiverHawks roll with short staff

The Spokane RiverHawks have the smallest roster in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League, but head coach Steve Hertz believes that is one of the reasons for the team’s success this season.

The RiverHawks (23-13), who are tied with the Bend Elks for first in the WCCBL, are composed of 22 collegiate baseball players, while the other seven teams have between 23 and 32 players in the dugout.

“We play some teams that are very talented in our league, but they’re struggling and a lot of that can be attributed to having too many players,” Hertz said. “We put development for their school team ahead of winning.”

With 22 players, Hertz has just one extra player for each position, with the exception of the pitching staff.

“They know if they sat out this game they’re going to be in the next one,” Hertz said. “The nice thing about baseball is knowing when you’re going to get a day off and when you’re going to play.”

The RiverHawks, who had lost six straight games, defeated the Wenatchee AppleSox (22-14) 5-1 on Sunday afternoon at Avista Stadium.

Three Spokane pitchers combined for a four-hitter and Darin Holcomb was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and one RBI.

The RiverHawks, who play all their home games at Avista Stadium, play their last home series of the regular season today and tomorrow against Moses Lake. After the regular season ends on the road in Bellingham on August 6, the top two teams will play in a best of three-game series for the WCCBL championship.

“We’re in the last stages of the pennant race right now,” Hertz said. “This team really likes to compete so they’ve got something to shoot for.”

Hertz said his team is getting a taste of what it’s like to play in the minor leagues with games almost every day during the two-month long summer season. Tuesday’s doubleheader will mark six games in five days.

“I’m glad these guys get tired at times,” Hertz said, “It means they’re playing a lot.”

But if Hertz could change one thing about the program, it would be the demands on the players and coaches to play so often in such a short period of time – and in the summer heat.

“I would love to see the schedule tweaked for player and coach welfare,” he said. “If that could be adjusted so Division I schools will want to send their players and don’t fear them getting hurt or worn down before they come back in the fall.”

Another challenge the RiverHawks had to face as a team was the adjustment to wooden bats from the aluminum bats they were used to in college.

“At the beginning I think the bats were swinging them a little bit,” Hertz said. “It took a while but they’ve gotten used to it.”

Hertz believes the use of wooden bats will carry over to the fall and help his players when they return to metal.

“I think they’ll find a strength they gained through using the wood and I think it will really help them,” he said.

Hertz acquired the majority of his roster from universities in the Northwest such as Gonzaga, Washington State, Whitworth and Lewis-Clark State College. Of the position players on the team, Hertz believes junior third baseman Holcomb out of GU has been the backbone of the RiverHawks, calling him the best player in the league, both offensively and defensively.

“Not everyone is hitting .300 or doing exactly what they had dreamed of doing, but they all played well and they’ve all gotten better,” Hertz said. “(Holcomb) is a young man that’s going to play this game for a living.”

Holcomb is batting .308 with 36 hits and is second in the league with 25 RBIs. He leads the league with six home runs this season.

Holcomb stayed local this season, but last summer played with the Aloha Nights out of Portland. Holcomb already had experience with wooden bats and said he prefers them.

Holcomb also believes the only challenge during the summer season has been the schedule.

“Playing and traveling every day is probably the only hard part,” Holcomb said. “You’ve got to want come out and perform and play every day.”

Holcomb credits the coaches and the team chemistry for the RiverHawks’ success. He has experience being coached from Hertz after playing three years of American Legion baseball during the summer in high school.

“(Hertz) is a great mentor and somebody you can really look up to,” he said.

The RiverHawks will host Moses Lake today at 6:30 p.m. and there will be a doubleheader on Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m. at Avista Stadium.

Tuesday will mark Fan Appreciation Night and there will be $1 admission for children. There will also be a book signing by Beth Mary Bollinger, the author of the “Until the End of the Ninth,” based on the Spokane Indians’ bus crash of 1946.