Monday, May 7, 1951

               W  L  Pct GB
Vancouver ... 14  3 .824 —
Spokane ..... 11  7 .611 3½
Tri-City ..... 8  8 .571 4½
Salem ........ 8  7 .533 5
Yakima ....... 6  9 .400 7
Tacoma ....... 6  9 .400 7
Wenatchee .... 6 11 .353 8
Victoria ..... 4 11 .287 9

VICTORIA, B. C., May 7—Vancouver Capilanos added to their Western International league lead here Monday night, defeating the punchless Victoria Athletics 4-1 in the opener of a four-game series.
Only able to pick up five hits from the offerings of Jim Hedgecock and Warren Noyes, the Caps struck for two runs in the first inning when Hedgecock got away to a rocky start, added another in the third on three singles and scored in the ninth against Noyes when manager Bill Schuster went the circuit on two errors and two balks.
Don Tisnerat won his third victory in as many starts by scraping out of four threatening james with the help of Victoria hitters, who now have scored by two runs in the last 44 innings.
Hedgecock, who outpitched Tisnerat by a good margin with a find mound job, opened by walking Bob McGuire and Ray Tran.
Chuck Abernathy grounded into a double play but Gordie Brunswick lined sharply over second base, the hit went for a double when Gene Thompson fell down chasing the ball and McGuire and Doug Sinovic, who had walked, both scored. Bad handling of the ball allowed Sinovic to come around all the way from first. Singles by McGuire and Tran and Abernathy's outfield fly made it 3-0.
Vancouver .... 201 000 001—4 5 3
Victoria ......... 010 000 000—1 9 2
Tisnerat and Ritchey; Hedgecock, Noyes (8) and Marcucci.

ONLY GAME SCHEDULED

Converted Infielder is Top Hitter in WIL
TACOMA, May 8 — Artie Wilson, installed as a starter in the Tri-City outfield last week, came up with a 9-for-20 performance at the plate to vault into the Western International league batting lead with a .423 average, up a cool 90 points.
Tacoma's Marion Watson last week's leader, was dealt with severely by Wenatchee and Tri-City pitching, slumping from .500 to the runner-up figure of .404 when he was limited to 4 hits in 17 trips.
Third among the regulars at .397 was Ken Richardson of Spokane, who dropped from .475 while hitting safely six times in 23 appearances at the plate.
Another Trl-City performer, Vic Buccola, enjoyed an even more spectacular week at the dish than teammate Wilson, making 13 hits in 25 trips. Buccola's blows included his third homer, giving him a tie with Spokane's Ed Nulty in that department. It's been just about "four-or-no-count" with Nulty incidentally, since he has collected only 7 hits altogether, including the three round-trippers, and is batting a mere .171.
Richardson clung to runs-batted-in lead with 17, up one from last week, but his position was being menaced by Buccola, who belted 10 tallies across for a season's total ot 16, and by Wenatchee's Walt Pocekay, who also had 16 as against 10 a week ago.
Looming as contenders for the home run crown were Will Hafey of Wenatchee and Steve Mesner of Spokane, veteran Coast Leaguers who belted two circuit smashes apiece in their initial week of W-I action.
The leading averages, as released today from the office of Robert B. Abel, league president:
                     G AB H RBI Avg.
Wilson, T-C ....... 10 26 11  5 .423
Watson, Tac ....... 14 47 19 10 .404
Richardson, Spok .. 17 63 25 17 .397
Hjelmaa, Wen ...... 12 48 19  8 .396
Buccola, T-C ...... 14 58 22 16 .393
Snyder, Tac ....... 15 55 21  7 .382
Murphy, Spok ...... 17 72 27 12 .375
Bache, Tac ........ 13 55 20 10 .364
Zuvela, Yak ....... 11 44 16  5 .364
Steinberg, Yak .... 14 58 21  6 .362
Len Neal, Wen ..... 17 59 21  7 .356
Stetter, Salem .... 14 54 19  5 .352