Sunday 16 March 2008

Saturday, June 6, 1953

W L Pct GB
Lewiston .... 25 11 .694 —
Salem ....... 21 14 .606 3½
Vancouver ... 21 15 .583 4
Edmonton .... 23 20 .535 5½
Spokane ..... 18 20 .474 8
Victoria .... 17 21 .447 9
Wenatchee ... 17 21 .447 9
Yakima ...... 19 25 .432 10
Calgary ..... 18 24 .429 10
Tri-City .... 16 24 .400 11


SPOKANE, June 6—Spokane trounced Yakima 7-2 behind the live-hit pitching of Jack Spring Saturday night to even the score of their four-game Western International League baseball series at 1-1. It was Spring's third win in a row and his fourth in live starts this season.
The Indians won the game in the first inning. Wilbur Johnson singled, advanced to second when Stan Palys walked, and scored on Will Haley's single. Jim Command singled to score Palys and went home on Jimmy Brown s infield grounder.
The Indians added two more runs in the sixth frame and another pair in the eighth.
The Bears scored one run in the first inning when Bud Hjelmaa walked and scored on Len Noren's double, and another in the seventh as Dario Lodigiani walked, stole second and scored on Bob McGuire's long double.
Jack Rial, who pitched the first six innings for Yakima was the loser.
Yakima ............ 100 000 100—2 5 2
Spokane .......... 300 002 02x—7 8 1
Rial, Del Sarto (7) and Novick; Spring and Sheets.

CALGARY, June 6—Edmonton Eskimos ran their winning streak over Calgary Stampeders to five straight by sweeping both ends of a Western International Baseball League twi-night doubleheader 7-5 and 13-7 Saturday.
Jack Widner got credit for the win in the first encounter even though relieved in the seventh by Larry Manier, who snuffed out a last-ditch Stampede rally.
Clint Weavers and Sam Kanelos banged out round-trippers for Eskimos. Don Hunter and Rocky Tedesco homered for Calgary.
The second game featured a display of power by the Eskimos and poor defensive playing by Stampeders, who committed seven errors.
John Conant went the route to gain the victory, even though he allowed four Calgary homers, two to Hunter. Eddie Capp absorbed the loss.
Kanelos and playing manager Bobby Sturgeon clouted four-baggers for Edmonton, while Charlie Mead and Jim Hollinger hit the other Stampeder homers.
First Game
Edmonton ........ 110 014 0—7 6 2
Calgary ........... 000 102 2—5 7 1
Widner, Manier (7) and Morgan; Schulte, Francis (6) and Lillard.
Second Game
Edmonton ........ 040 105 030—13 14 2
Calgary ........... 012 000 130— 7 9 7
Conant and Morgan; Capp, Francis (6) and Lillard.

Tri-City at Lewiston, postponed, rain.
Vancouver at Salem, afternoon and night games, postponed, rain.
Victoria at Wenatchee postponed, rain.

New WIL Batting Leader
UNDATED—Jack Warren of Tri-City has taken over the WIL’s individual batting lead from teammate Len Tran, according to official statistics released yesterday. The averages include games of June 1.
Warren boosted his average 14 points during the week to .394 and climbed from third to first. He also took over the lead in total bases with 78 and in runs batted in with 38.
Salem Senators lead in team batting with a .284 average, followed closely by Tri-City Braves with .280.
BRONC TOP FIELDING
Lewiston Broncs are the top fielding team in the circuit and boast a .968 fielding average. Vancouver follows with .962.
Ray McNulty of Edmonton and Lonnie Myers of Vancouver lead the pitchers for most wins with 3-0 records. Six hurlers are tied for most wins. Vancouver’s Van Fletcher and Pete Hernandez and Bill Brenner of Lewiston have 6-1 records. Danny Rios of Yakima was six wins and two losses, Salem’s Jack Hemphill has a 6-2 percentage and Edmonton’s John Conant has a 6-4 record.
Glen Hittner of Calgary is the current strikeout king with 49 whiffs to his credit. Buck Tanner of Tri-City has the dubious honour of being the league’s wildest hurler with 57 bases on balls.
                     AB  R H RBI Pct.
Warren, TC ........ 142 18 56 38 .394
L. Tran, TC ....... 139 40 54 34 .388
Noren, Yak ........ 154 29 59 33 .383
Prentice, Edm ...... 30  4 11  5 .367
Storey, Van ....... 108 14 39 23 .361
Witherspoon, Sal .. 113 25 40 20 .354
Mascaro, Van ...... 125 20 44 18 .352
Smith, Sal ......... 64 12 22 10 .344
R. Tran, TC ....... 118 20 40 20 .339
Deyo, Sal .......... 77 19 26 15 .338
Mead, Cal ......... 120 36 40 31 .333
Palys, Spo ......... 78 13 26 16 .333
Stathos, Cal ....... 91 20 30 17 .330
Whitehead, Cal ..... 70 13 23  8 .329
Luby, Sal .......... 95 20 31 15 .326
Taylor, Vic ........ 99 18 32 19 .323
McCormick, Wen ..... 88 18 28 15 .318
Bartolomei, Wen .... 60  8 19  5 .317
Morgan, Edm ....... 111 18 35  9 .315
Tanselli, Lew ..... 141 30 44 22 .312
Tedesco, Cal ...... 139 18 43 33 .309
Perez, Sal ........ 136 21 42 27 .309
Munoz, Wen ......... 55  6 17 10 .309
Command, Spo ...... 125 20 38 16 .304
Weaver, Edm ....... 125 15 38 26 .304


IT BEATS ME
By Jim Tang
[from Victoria Colonist, June 7, 1953]
The WIL has 10 players who were in the league when it began post-war play in 1946—outfielder Mel Wasley and righthanders Bill Brenner and John Marshall at Lewiston, catcher Nick Pesut, first baseman Vic Buccola and righthander Bob Snyder at Tri-City, outfielder Charlie Mead at Calgary, outfielder Ed Murphy at Spokane, southpaw Jim Hedgecock at Wenatchee and southpaw Carl Gunnarson at Vancouver . . . Longest distance to the fences in Calgary’s WIL park is 306 feet and hitters are having themselves quite a time with one-third of the home runs hit in the league floating over those closed-in fences.

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