APPLESOX SHUT OUT ELKS IN SERIES-OPENER

BEND, Ore. - The Wenatchee AppleSox (19-24, 8-9 second half) picked up their second shutout of the season with a 9-0 victory over the Bend Elks on Friday night at Vince Genna Stadium. 

Curtis Bafus and Karver Pate combined to toss the shutout. Bafus fired six scoreless innings in his fourth start of the season with zero earned runs allowed. The right-hander from VCU has a 0.56 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in his last five starts. 

Pate faced the minimum in his three innings and struck out four batters, including the side in the eighth inning. 

At the plate, Evan Williams set the tone as the leadoff batter, going 3-for-5 with a walk and two stolen bases. All-in-all, the Sox swiped a season-high four bases. 

Williams led off the ballgame with a single and scored on a double by Mason Marenco. After a wild pitch put Marenco at third, Connor McCord grounded out to make it 2-0, AppleSox.

The next inning, the Sox scored two more runs. With one out, Kody Darcy doubled to right and went to third on another wild pitch. Nick Seamons walked to put runners at first and third and Williams singled to right on a hit-and-a-run to plate Darcy. Two batters later, Johnny Sage reached on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded to score Seamons.

Cory Meyer plated his first of two runs in the game with an RBI single in the fifth. It came after Jacob Prater singled and stole second base with one out. Meyer came around to score when Kody Darcy singled him in and the AppleSox took a 6-0 lead.

In the seventh, Jacob Prater reached second on an error and scored on another Meyer RBI single. The Sox got their final two runs in the eighth. Sage doubled and went to third on a McCord single. A wild pitch plated Sage and A.D. Pena hit an RBI single up the middle to score McCord.

The AppleSox will go for their third straight series victory on Saturday night when they face the Elks again at 6:35 p.m.