Wenatchee Going For First Sweep, Thursday
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The AppleSox are looking to extend a four-game winning streak with a series sweep of the Walla Walla Sweets tonight at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium. First Pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
WENATCHEE APPLESOX (4-7) vs Walla Walla Sweets (5-6)
Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium | 7:05 p.m.
R- Luke Mattson (0-1) vs. L- Easton Lucas (1-0)
GAME NOTES | APPLESOX STATS | LISTEN LIVE
The Wenatchee AppleSox (4-7, 2-3 North), fifth place in the division, continue a nine-game homestand, hosting North division foe, the Walla Walla Sweets (5-6, 3-5 North)...Wenatchee won its first series of the season, Sunday with a 3-0 shutout of the Corvallis Knights, and has a chance to sweep its first series Thursday night...the AppleSox are playing their 17th franchise season (12th in the WCL) and are led by second-year skipper, AJ Proszek (31-37) (.456), who is in his 4th season with the Sox...Proszek is assisted by Kyle Hunt and Colton Loomis, both in their first seasons.
SUNDAY NIGHT -- APPLESOX 5, SWEETS 4 (12 innings)
WENATCHEE – It took extra innings, Wednesday night, but the Wenatchee AppleSox (4-7), won a fourth-straight game on a Parker Price RBI single in the 12th inning, to secure a 5-4 win over the Walla Walla Sweets (5-6), at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium...Eli Thornquist (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the AppleSox, posting three innings of relief for the AppleSox in extra innings...the loss was charged to Kyle Narahara (0-2), the West Coast League’s save leader...Wenatchee fell behind in the fourth inning, as the Sweets reached Sox starter Jimmy Dobrash for their first runs for a 2-0 lead....that score held into the bottom half as Walla Walla starter Bobby Ay was facing Toglia without allowing a hit to Wenatchee on the night...that’s when Toglia hammered his two-run home run to dead center field to tie the ballgame...trailing in the sixth, Wenatchee cut into the two-run, 4-2 deficit with Toglia’s third RBI...he landed a single in shallow right field to score Price, who was aboard earlier in the inning on a walk...Hastings hit the game-tying solo home run down the right field line off of AJ Carkner in the seventh...the score would hold until Price broke the tie for good in the 12th...with two outs, and Narahara in a groove, Jeremy Ydens walked to get a runner aboard...after stealing second base, Price delivered the single that won the game for Wenatchee.
TONIGHT'S NOTES
THE STREAK
The AppleSox have now won 4-consecutive games, tied for the second-longest WCL winning streak...it is the AppleSox longest positive streak since a five-game stretch in August, 2014...all of the wins have occurred at home.
CRUSHED
Two home runs tied the game twice a night ago for the AppleSox...the team’s first of the year was crushed to center field off the batt of Michael Toglia...it came in the fourth to tie the game 2-2...Haydan Hastings provided another in the seventh...a solo shot after Jordan Rathbone was caught trying to stretch a single into a double...that tied the game at 4...the home run came in game number 11 last night...a year ago, it took 13 games and change for the Sox to put one over the wall...the long is 15 games back in 2007.
CLOSE CALLS
The recent history of the Sox-Sweets history has delivered plenty of close games...now 8 of the last 12 games with Walla Walla have been decided by one run.
FREE BASEBALL
Last night, the AppleSox played their second extra inning contest of the season...Wenatchee is now 1-1 on the year, and has drawn even with the Sweets at 4-4 all-time in extra-inning games...the win last night broke a 5-game losing streak in extra-inning contests, dating back to June 10, 2015, a 10-inning 3-0 win at Walla Walla, after the game was scoreless into extra frames...Wenatchee played back-to-back extra-inning games to end that first series with Walla Walla a season ago (1-1)...the Sox are 35-30 in lengthened games, and 16-18 at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.
PITCHING LEADING THE CHARGE
Over the last five game nights, and the AppleSox 4-game winning streak, the pitching staff has had a heavy hand in changing Wenatchee’s fortunes...in the last five games, the team has tossed a 2.06 ERA, allowing 11 earned runs...if you take only the games during the four-game win-streak, it is a 1.38 ERA for the staff (6 earned runs)...in the series against Walla Walla, just four earned runs have been allowed (1.71 ERA).
PREP THE BROOM CLOSET
Wenatchee has a chance to get a sweep over the Walla Walla Sweets, Thursday...the last AppleSox sweep came July 3-5, 2015 at home against the Klamath Falls Gems...the last sweep versus a divisional opponent was Aug. 5-7, 2014 at Kelowna...the final two games of that series both went to extra innings.
WITH TWO OUTS
All of the AppleSox scoring a night ago came with two outs...Parker Price leads the AppleSox (19) in two-out RBI with four.
STRIKEOUT KINGS
Last night the AppleSox struck out 13 batters, while Walla Walla K’d 15...the two teams are the WCL leaders in batters sent down on strikes. Wenatchee has thrown 106 strikeouts so far, and the Sweets 104...Wenatchee is on pace to throw 520 strikeouts this season...it would shatter the WCL record, set by the Sox pitching staff in 2014 (468).
