SOX LOOK FOR BACK-TO-BACK SERIES WINS, FACE BLACK BEARS

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July 24 series preview.jpg

APPLESOX (16-23, 6-8 second half)

v.s.

Cowlitz Black Bears (15-24, 5-7 second half)

July 24-26

Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium

 

The Wenatchee AppleSox return home for their penultimate homestand of the season. It begins tonight with a three-game set against the Cowlitz Black Bears at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium. All three games start at 7:05 p.m.
 
Probable Pitchers

Tuesday
Black Bears: Zach Heaton (2-2, 2.62 ERA)
AppleSox: Hunter Boyd (4-1, 4.12 ERA)

Wednesday
Black Bears: Mitch Lines (1-1, 5.68 ERA)
AppleSox: Michael Spellacy (1-1, 2.90 ERA)

Thursday
Black Bears: Ryan Kaser (1-1, 5.95 ERA)
AppleSox: Tyler Chipman (0-0, 5.65 ERA)

Promotions

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Enjoy a plate of three tacos with delicious toppings for just $6.75! Tacos go on sale starting at 6 p.m., when the gates open and are on sale until they run out.

Last Game

For the first time this season, the AppleSox won the final two games of a three-game series to pick up a series victory. It was capped off with an 8-3 victory over the Yakima Valley Pippins on Monday night at Yakima County Stadium.

For the fourth time this season, the AppleSox recorded a multi-homer effort with home runs by Connor McCord and Nick Seamons, their third and first of the season, respectively.

Scouting the Opponent

The Black Bears enter tonight’s game second-to-last in the South division. They’ve lost two of their last nine and have been held to less than five runs five times during that span.

Cowlitz has the worst batting average (.228), second-worst on-base percentage (.327) and third-worst ERA (5.03) in the West Coast League. The Black Bears also enter tonight’s game with the second-worst road record in the WCL at 7-14.

Outfielder Ryan Kim leads the league in stolen bases (16), is tied for first in triples (3) and is fifth in total bases (69). The incoming junior at the University of Portland leads the Black Bears with a .321 batting average and is on an eight-game hitting streak in which he has recorded multi-hit efforts in all but one of the games. Kim is batting .441 (15-for-34) during his streak.

Offensive Outburst

In the series victory over the Pippins, the AppleSox the Sox collected 11 or more hits picked up their second consecutive victory over the Pippins. It was the 14th time this season that the AppleSox recorded double-digit hits in 39 games.

The Sox also homered in all three games to do so for the first time in a series this season. Twice in the series, players picked up their first home runs of the season as Evan Williams homered on Sunday and Nick Seamons went deep on Monday.

With back-to-back games of scoring eight runs on Sunday and Monday, the AppleSox are now 13-4 when scoring five-or-more runs in a game this season. The Sox have now won each of their last six games when scoring at least five runs in a game.

Boyd Hopes to Continue Consistency

In his last three starts, Hunter Boyd has given the AppleSox three consecutive quality outings. After identical six-inning performances in which he allowed a single earned run in both outings on July 4 and 10 to lead to two victories, Boyd stepped it up in his next start.

Last Tuesday against Bellingham, who won the North division in the first half, Boyd tossed a complete game to lead the Sox to a 10-1 victory. Boyd took a shutout into the ninth inning and tossed the first complete game by an AppleSox pitcher this season.

Tonight, the Moses Lake right-hander looks to make it four straight starts with one earned run or fewer allowed in a start of at least six innings.

McCord a Machine at the Plate

The three-game series in Yakima Valley was a particularly strong one for the AppleSox and perhaps no player had a finer weekend than Connor McCord.

The incoming junior to Western Oregon hit .500 (8-for-16) at the plate and recorded multi-hit efforts in all three games. It was the first time that McCord recorded a trio of consecutive multi-hit games since his first three games of the season on June 12-14 against Corvallis.

This monster weekend came after McCord went hitless in consecutive games for the first time this season in the final two games against Portland last week. Through 28 games, McCord has still yet to have back-to-back games in which he hasn’t reached base.

McCord also blasted two home runs, one in the series-opener and the other in the rubber match. He has now blasted all three of his home runs this season in the last seven games.

By leading the team in batting average (.352), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.509), McCord has proven himself as the Sox most complete and well-rounded hitter.