AppleSox Continue Road Series Wednesday

The AppleSox continue a three-game set with the Victoria HarbourCats, Wednesday night in British Columbia. 

WENATCHEE APPLESOX (0-4) at Victoria HarbourCats (1-3)
Sports Traders Diamond at Royal Athletic Park     |       6:35 p.m.
R- Jimmy Dobrash (0-1) vs. R- Chris Ashworth (0-0)
GAME NOTES       |       APPLESOX STATS       |       LISTEN LIVE

The Wenatchee AppleSox (0-4, 0-1, North), tied for fourth place in the division, head north to take on the Victoria HarbourCats (1-3, 1-3 North) for the first of two three-game series in Canada...Wenatchee was held scoreless for a total of 18.2 innings, before Steven Machtolf drove in a run with an RBI HBP in the ninth inning yesterday...the AppleSox are playing their 17th franchise season (12th in the WCL) and are led by second-year skipper, AJ Proszek (27-35) (.435), who is in his 4th season with the Sox...Proszek is assisted by Kyle Hunt and Colton Loomis, both in their first seasons.

LAST NIGHT -- HARBOURCATS 11 - APPLESOX 1 
VICTORIA – The Wenatchee AppleSox (0-4), fell to the Victoria HarbourCats (1-3), 11-1 Tuesday night...the AppleSox were held without a baserunner for 6 2/3 innings, and hitless through 7 innings, facing Dalton Erb of the HarbourCats...Erb received tremendous run support from the HarbourCats in the third, fourth, and fifth innings...the HarbourCats scored 10 of their 11 runs over the three frames...after 3 2/3 innings, it was 3-0 HarbourCats when Nick Hoefling made his AppleSox debut...a 2-RBI single off of the second base bag made it 5-0 HarbourCats...Cody Snider went 3-for-5 with a single, home run and double...he drove in three runs and stole two bases in the game...Victoria added more for a 10-0 lead after five innings...Ryan Murkle worked a 2-out walk off of Erb in the seventh inning to break up a perfect game, and Steven Machtolf started the eighth inning with a hard-hit single to right center field to break up Erb’s no-hit bid...Casey Legumina threw in relief along with Hoefling and struck out three batters during his inning of work, but also surrendered the HarbourCat’s 11th run...Wenatchee’s lone offensive bright spot came in the ninth inning...Royfel Granda and Jeremy Ydens got their first hits of 2016 during the frame...a walk of Ryan Murkle set up a bases loaded situation in which Wenatchee scored a run off of HarbourCat reliever Nick Wojtysiak...Steven Machtolf ended a streak of 18 2/3 scoreless innings dating back to the tenth inning of Saturday night’s game, and delivered the game’s only RBI for Wenatchee on a bases-loaded hit by pitch. 

TONIGHT'S NOTES

DOBRASH LOOKING TO IMPROVE ON SEASON-OPENING START
Jimmy Dobrash opened his first start for the Wenatchee AppleSox on Opening Night by retiring six of the first seven batters he faced...in the third inning he ran into some trouble, allowing three runs on three of his six hits allowed that evening...Dobrash recovered to throw a scoreless 2 2/3 inning after the Pippins struck for three, but he did run his pitch count to 94...all three of his walks came in the fourth/fifth innings...Dobrash struck out six of the first eight men he faced, Friday, and faces a Victoria team tonight that struck out 12 times a night ago...12 marked the highest strikeout total for the AppleSox pitching staff this season. 

OFFENSE BAFFLED
Wenatchee has struggled at the plate through its first four games in 2016...the AppleSox have just one extra-base hit and 5 RBI on 7 runs scored...the team is batting .157 (20x127) and has struck out 39 times (tied for second-most with the Bend Elks, and trailing league-leading Victoria [47])...last night, Wenatchee ended a consecutive scoreless inning dryspell at the plate in the ninth inning, when Steven Machtolf picked up an RBI on a bases-loaded HBP...it was the first run Wenatchee had scored since the ninth inning of Saturday’s 6-5 extra-inning loss on a Sheldon Liikala RBI bases-loaded walk...a span of 18 2/3 innings...the last time Wenatchee scored a run not via walk or HBP was on an Evan Douglas RBI single in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game...23 1/3 innings ago.

EXTENDING AT BATS
The AppleSox need to work on extending trips to the plate, Wednesday night...last night, Dalton Erb worked into the seventh inning before seeing an at bat reach 5 pitches (Granda, R.)...three-of-four batters in the inning worked past the five-pitch mark, to eventual wear Erb down for his first hit allowed...Wenatchee has been retired 1-2-3 in 14-of-37 offensive innings this season (37.8 percent). 

LIMITING THE BIG INNING
A theme of multi-run innings continues for the AppleSox in early 2016...Wenatchee has allowed runs in 13 defensive innings this season...in seven of those innings Wenatchee has given up three-or-more runs...two-or-more runs have been surrendered in 10 of the 13 frames.

GETTING THE SERIES EVEN
If the Sox win Wednesday, the series is back even at 1-1...the last time Wenatchee lost two-consecutive series was July 6-11 at home against Bend (0-3) and on the road at Cowlitz (1-2).

DOUBLE DIGITS
Wenatchee has given up 11 runs in each of its last two games...the last time the AppleSox gave up back-to-back double digit run scoring games wasJuly 3 and 4 of 2012...a span of 217 games in between.

THE STREAK
Victoria now has a five-game winning streak over Wenatchee, which started June 28 of last season in an 11-10 extra-inning win at Royal Athletic Park...the AppleSox have now lost five straight, in total, dating back to 2015.