Sox Return to Goss Stadium Looking to Jump on Corvallis
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The Wenatchee AppleSox are back at Goss Stadium to face the four-time reigning WCL champion Corvallis Knights at 6:35 tonight. Wenatchee is looking to beat Corvallis in a three-game series for the first time since June of 2016. Since their last series victory over the Knights, Corvallis is 10-2 against the Sox.
The AppleSox took their third rubber match, 4-3, last night to take two-of-three from Cowlitz. Designated hitter Zach Toglia contributed 2 RBI when he hit a chopper up the middle in the eighth. Meanwhile, first baseman Luc Stuka collected multiple hits for the second straight game, score a run and recorded an RBI. Wenatchee capped their three-run eighth after Adam Grob drove in a two-out run off an infield hit.
Cowlitz answered in the last frame by scoring three runs off Tyler Chipman before Chase Grillo took over and got the game-ending strikeout. Grillo is now tied for second with three saves in the WCL. Hunter Salinas took home the win after going a sox-best 6 inn, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts and one walk. Salinas' performance gave him the league's lowest ERA (0.59).
A win tonight could move the Sox half a game back if they win and Yakima Valley loses to Walla Walla. The AppleSox currently sit second in the West Coast League’s North Division. Last night’s win for Wenatchee was the sixth time that the Sox won by three-runs-or-less.
The last time Wenatchee faced Corvallis at the end of the 2019 regular season. The Sox lost all 3 road games by a combined 20-3 margin. However, the Sox that played that series were made up of tons of newcomers and late additions. Heading into tonight, Corvallis biggest threat is INF Travis Bazzana. Bazzana won the 1st WCL player of the week award and is currently hitting .365 (fifth in WCL). On the other side, tonight's starter Ty Uber is fifth among league arms with a 1.46 ERA and his 16 strikeouts have him in the top 10 as well. Sox slugger Adam Grob is seventh in RBI (13) while Tino Bethancourt is the only WCL player with at least three home runs, 9 RBI and eight stolen bases.
Returning for his fourth start tonight is Sox southpaw Gavin Gorrell (0-2, 7.30 ERA). Facing him and the AppleSox is future Stanford Cardinal Ty Uber (1-0, 1.45 ERA).
Gorrell is coming off his best outing of the summer last Friday vs Bend. Though he didn’t get the win and pitched only 4 innings, Gorrell matched his season-high 5 strikeouts, walked just one Elk and preserved Wenatchee’s 4-3 lead by striking out Julian Kodama to leave the base paths jammed.
Uber’s last outing was June 18th against Cowlitz. In the Knights’ home opening 5-3 win, Uber pitched five innings, gave up two hits, one earned run, two walks and struck out five without earning a decision. Uber stranded four runners through his first three frames before he sat down six of his final seven batters.
Though the AppleSox are on the road, you can still listen live to the action on Sunny FM. Listeners can tune in at kcsyfm.com on their desktop computer or by tuning in at any of the following stations below.
Wenatchee: 93.9 FM
East Wenatchee/Rock Island: 98.1 FM
Lake Chelan Valley: 95.3 FM
Brewster/Pateros: 101.3 FM
Okanogan Valley: 101.9 FM
Omak/Tonasket/Oroville: 97.7 FM
Methow Valley: 106.3 FM
Pregame coverage begins at 6:10 p.m. with the Horan Estates Winery Pregame Show and the broadcast wraps up each night with the Denny’s Late Night Postgame Show.
Live stats can be found on Pointstreak.
