PASCO – Powerful pitching and steady scoring sent the Tri-City Dust Devils (30-26) to victory Saturday night, with the home nine celebrating Paw Patrol Night at the ballpark with an 8-3 win over the Vancouver Canadians (23-33) at Gesa Stadium.
Tri-City starter Peyton Olejnik (2-5) struck out a career-high nine batters in 5.2 innings, dispatching three Vancouver batters in the 1st and striking out the side in the 3rd. The Cedar Lake, Indiana native gave up two doubles to allow a run in the top of the 2nd but otherwise kept the Canadians at bay, retiring ten batters in a row at one point in his start.
While Olejnik did his work, his teammates backed him at the plate with runs in four of their first five innings. 3B Caleb Bartolero lined the first pitch of the bottom of the 1st down the left field line for a leadoff double, coming into score on a sacrifice fly by LF Anthony Scull that gave Tri-City a 1-0 lead. Vancouver’s run tied the game but only for a moment, with 1B Ryan Nicholson launching an opposite field homer to left in the bottom of the 2nd to restore the lead at 2-1.
A pair of big two-out hits off Canadians starter Holden Wilkerson (3-4) piled on runs in the middle frames. CF Gage Harrelson came through with a two-run single to center in the 4th inning, scoring C Juan Flores and Nicholson after a wild pitch put both in scoring position and pushing the advantage to 4-1. An inning later, DH Randy De Jesus shoved a grounder just through the right side to score both Johan Macias and Adrian Placencia with a second two-run single to make it a 6-1 game. Flores later added a sacrifice fly of his own in the 7th, with his flyout scoring SS David Mershon and giving his side a 7-1 lead.
Vancouver fired one more salvo in the top of the 8th when 3B Dub Gleed launched a two-run homer, bringing the visitors within four at 7-3, but Nicholson hit a second solo home run to left to plate the final run and help the Dust Devils secure at least a split in the six-game series. The lefty from Louisville went 3-for-4, scoring three runs in spearheading a ten-hit attack. Mershon had the other multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a walk via two bunt singles.
The win kept alive faint playoff hopes for Tri-City in the Northwest League First Half playoff race. The Dust Devils trail first place Eugene by eight games with ten games left in the half, which leaves the Emeralds with a magic number of 3.
GET AWAY…TO GESA STADIUM
Tri-City and Vancouver conclude their six-game series with a 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon finale. Tuesday night’s starters again will match up, with right-hander Tyler Bremner (0-1, 1.37 ERA) taking the hill for the Dust Devils and righty Landen Maroudis (0-4, 6.14 ERA) the same for the Canadians.
To finish up the 12-game homestand, Legends Casino presents their annual Get Away Day. Fans could get the chance to win a getaway to the casino/hotel.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 1:10 p.m. Fans can also watch the games for free on Bally Sports Live, and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
For tickets to Sunday’s game with Vancouver, as well as all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.