Monday, June 26, 1950

              W  L  Pct GB
Tacoma ..... 39 26 .600 —
Wenatchee .. 38 29 .567 2
Yakima ..... 37 29 .561 2½
Tri-City ... 36 31 .537 4
Salem ...... 30 34 .469 8½
Spokane .... 30 39 .435 11
Victoria ... 30 39 .435 11
Vancouver .. 26 39 .400 13

VANCOUVER, B.C., June 26—Vancouver Capilanos bunched five hits, one of them a home run by Reg Clarkson, to whip Spokane Indians 7-5 Monday night in a Western International league baseball game.
It was the opener of a three-game series.
John Conant had the Caps on hip for six innings as he pitched no-hit ball until Bill Heisner singled with two out in the seventh. Hiesner's hit plys an error and another single loaded the bases when Clarkson came to bat with two out.
Clarkson got a good piece of the second pitch Conant tossed to him and the ball sailed 340 feet over the right center field wall.
Sandy Robertson took heart with the two-run lead and pitched steady ball through the last three innings to wrap up the Capilano win.
Spokane ................... 030 002 000—5 10 2
Vancouver ............... 000 002 50x— 7 5 1
Conant and Rossi; Robertson and Heisner.

VICTORIA, B. C., June 26—Victoria Athletics snapped a five-game losing streak Tuesday night when they came from behind to defeat the league-leading Tacoma Tigers in 10 innings 10-9 before a crowd of 1,800.
The Tigers jumped on Aldon Wilkie early and often to send him to the showers in the fifth inning. Ron Smith came in and held the Tigers to one run the rest of the way in a fine relief chore to gain credit for his sixth victory.
Working behind a big lead, Hunk Anderson looked good for the first four innings but suddenly run into trouble in the fifth when the A's put over six runs after two were out to make it an 8-7 bill game. The Tigers saw the game tied up in the seventh and again after two were out. Joe Kronberg doubled after John Hack singled and Bill Dunn walked.
In the 10th, Marty Krug, Jr. drove in the winning run with a ground single into right field with Kronberg on third base after singling and moving up on Smith's third out.
Tacoma ........ 032 030 100 0—9 13 0
Victoria ........ 000 160 200 1—10 12 1
Anderson, Carter (5), Loust (10) and Sheets; Wilkie, Smith (5) and Ronning.

WALLA WALLA, June 26 [Don Becker, Herald]—Three booming home runs, two of them by outfielder Dick Faber, gave the Tri-City Braves a 4-3 victory over the Walla Walla Bears in an exhibition game here Monday night. Faber's final fourbagger over the left field wall, in the eleventh inning, was the deciding blow of the game.
Jim Olsen powered one over the 375 foot mark in center field to open the scoring for the Braves in the fourth. Faber got his first in the seventh and Neil Bryant's single in the ninth drove in the other run, scoring Faber from third.
Bear fans didn't take kindly to a close play on their home town team in the bottom of the final stanza. Chuck McBride was called out at home plate in an attempted sacrifice when catch
er Jim McKeegan blocked the baserunner from the plate. The Walla Walla fans surged out of the stand when Lou McCollum struck out Joe Fidler to end the game, and swarmed all over the umpire calling the balls and strikes.
The crucial play started when Roseboro attempted to squeeze McBride in from third. Vic Buccola raced in, took the ball, and fired to McKeegan. The red headed backstop pulled a Nick Pesut on the runner by dropping squarely on the plate leaving no room for McBride. The umpire raised his thumb and the roar from the stands started.
Approximately 1,400 fans were crowed into Borleske Field to see the Braves play their first exhibition game of the 1950 season.
The Bears scored two of their runs off Jim Warner, who pitched one and two-thirds innings. Although Warner struck out three he had trouble finding the plate during his first attempts, walking four of the six men that faced him. Two of the walks later scored.
Brave manager Charlie Peterson finally called on veteran Lou McCollum to go in and save the game, which McCollum did in highly creditable fashion, giving up but three hits.
The other Bear run came in the fifth when Eldon Hamper scored from third after McBride filed deep to Bob Felizatto in left field.
Walla Walla missed seeing the big, black bat of Clint Cameron's. The right fielder was at the game, but an ailing leg kept him out of uniform.
Tri-City ............ 000 010 010 101 — 4-6-0
Walla Walla ...... 000 001 100 000—3-6-1
Greenlaw, Warner (6), McCollum (7) and Pesut, McKeegan; Forsyth and Hamper.

EUGENE, June 27—The Salem Senators of the Western International league pounded out a 12-6 victory over Eugene of the Far West league before 2,000 fans here Monday night.
Salem collected 16 hits in the exhibition game, making victory certain with a five—run outburst in the seventh inning. Outfielder Hal Zurcher led the way with four hits in five trips to the plate.
First baseman Gale Smith swatted a single and triple for Eugene.
Salem ....... 003 301 500—12 16 2
Eugene ..... 020 130 000—6 10 4
Barta, Waibel (4), Liska (8) and McMillan, Beard (6); Seats, Clappison (4), Chase (8) and Re. [sic]

TACOMA, June 27—Nini Tornay, Yakima catcher, gained ground in the Western International league batting race during the past week, despite dropping five points to .385, it was revealed today in averages released by the office of Robert B. Abel, president of the loop.
Whereas a week ago Tornay held a 20-point bulge over his nearest rival, he is now 32 points ahead of the runner-up, Tacoma's Dick Green, who climbed 10 points to .353 and vaulted from fourth to second place.
Greco was the big noise in the willow chase, incidentally, on the strength of an 8-for-13 weekend against Vancouver pitching. Four of the big outfielder's blows were homers, giving him a season's total of 11, and he propelled nine tallies across the plate for a runs-batted-in aggregate of 54.
Spokane's Joe Rossi clung to tho home run lead with 12, having hit for the circuit twice during the week, while Victoria's Gene Thompson, also with two more round-trippers to his credit, was third with a season's total of 10.
Wimpy Quinn of Tacoma remained the runs-batted-in leader with 61, five more than a week ago, while Jim Westlake, up two to 57, was the runner-up, with Greco a strong third.
Third man in the batting chase was the longtime leader, Glen Stetter of Spokane, who dropped 11 points to .350 when he collected but five hits in 20 trips.
The leaders (including games of Sunday, June 25):
                   AB  H RBI Ave.
Tornay, Yak ..... 148 57 29 .383
Greco, Tac ...... 235 83 54 .353
Stetter, Tac-Spo. 203 71 46 .350
Thompson, Vic ... 253 86 43 .340
Rossi, Spok ..... 231 78 50 .338
Chorlton, Vic ... 249 83 42 .334
Sinovic, Van .... 154 51 33 .331
Lee, Tac ......... 77 25  9 .325
Zuvella, Yak .... 124 40 21 .323
McCawley, Yak ... 125 37 23 .322
Hjelmaa, Wen .... 213 68 33 .319
Cheso, Yak. ..... 235 75 43 .319
Larry Neal, Wen.. 230 73 25 .317
Ragni, Wen. ..... 117 37 20 .316
L. Tran, Van. ... 172 54 30 .314
Pocekay, Wen. ... 249 78 49 .313
Wasley, Salem ... 227 70 38 .308
Vanni, Vic-Spok.. 173 53 22 .306
Gifford, Tac. ... 220 67 21 .305
Brenner, Van. ... 136 41 32 .301

INSIDE STUFF
[Nevada State Journal, June 27/50]
Plugging of that long-time gap at third base may have been accomplished by the Reno Silver Sox with announcement that Sam Stassi has been signed by the local baseball club.
Experienced and a powerful hitter, Stassi may be just what the doctor ordered for the Nevada entry in the Far West League. Third base has been a question mark since early in spring training, and a number of players have been tried there and found wanting. Finally manager Joe Borich doffed his catching togs and did a workmanlike job at the hot corner; but Joe is more valuable to the team behind the plate and a regular third baseman was the big need.
The Renoites had been dickering for Stassi for some time, and it was revealed yesterday that he'd signed his contract and will appear for Reno against Klamath Falls here tonight. How much time Sam will need to round into shape is a question, but it shouldn't be long before he's making that infield hum.
We recall Stassi as a red-hot infielder with Mather Field's wartime club, which was a collection of some outstanding pro players. He was also "borrowed" by the Reno town team in 1943 or thereabouts to play for the locals in an exhibition at Idlewild Park against McClellan Field's major league stars—Dillinger, McCormick, Fain, Lodigiani, Judnich, Aridizoia, DeRose, etc.
Sam came up with Wes Bailey, ex-Lovelock twirler (now with Minneapolis of the American Association) to play for the Reno townies, and as we remember the game Stassi was one of the shining lights. No regular baseball park was available, so it was played before a huge crowd at Idlewild Park. The McClellan luminaries won 10-7, but the Reno crew have them a real battle and Oscar Freitag and Stassi were the big guns with four and three hits, respectively, plus three double plays.
After the war Stassi entered professional baseball and jumped into the fast Class B Western International League, where in 1947 he rapped .313 for Yakima. In 47 games he collected 17 hits, including 10 doubles, five home runs and 38 RBI's, striking out only 11 times. In the field he had only 15 errors and a fielding average of .895.
The Hollywood Stars called him up to the Pacific Coast League two years ago and he looked great in spring training. When the Stars wanted to send him back to the Western International for another year of seasoning he balked and retired. In the meantime the burning urge to get back into action has been growing warmer and he's badk in baseball with Reno. His father was a familiar name in Sacramento Valley ball, and his brother has been around the minors.
Stassi is about 5'7", a 165-pounder and his hobby is golf. He has been one of the top amateurs around Sacramento for some time. So Reno now has an infielder who, at 25, is more experienced in baseball than most of the Far West Leaguers except the veterans, yet he still qualifies for the limited service classification. Reno suffered two series setbacks during the past week while on the road against Klamath and Redding and skidded back to sixth place. Yet the Silver Sox aren't too far out of first division and the addition of Sam Stassi may be the necessary shot in the arm for a quick recovery.