Wenatchee Hits the Road For Penultimate Road Trip
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The Wenatchee AppleSox are back on the road to face the Bend Elks at Vince Genna Stadium tonight at 6:35.
The AppleSox took one-of-three games against the North division-leading Yakima Valley Pippins last weekend with Saturday’s win marking their season-high for runs scored (15) and hits collected (16). Skylar Hales kept Yakima Valley at bay with 4.1 scoreless innings of relief and struck out 10 Pippins for a new Sox season-high to seal the victory. Former AppleSox righty Seth Kuykendall stymied the AppleSox in a 5-1 Pippins win in Sunday’s rubber match.
In the past seven days, Wenatchee hit .261 with Michael O'Hara, Luc Stuka and Jackson Van De Brake collecting 19 combined hits. The .261 mark is 33 points higher than the team's .228 batting average overall. This boost helped Wenatchee score seven or more runs in half of their games last week.
In the last meeting between the AppleSox and Elks, the Sox took an exciting game one before losing the next two games to Bend at home. Bend got 41 hits off the AppleSox pitchers that weekend. Meanwhile, guys like former AppleSox infielder Justin Simpson set the Elks on fire as Simpson's first weekend in Wenatchee saw him score six runs in just three games.
With Wenatchee currently two-and-a-half games behind Bellingham for second place in the second half, the guys will look to take start their second-to-last roadtrip of 2021 in style. Bend enters this game behind the Sox in WCL runs scored with 175 (seventh) to Wenatchee's 180 (sixth). Currently, Bend is dead last with just seven home runs this summer. However, the Elks have the fewest offensive strikeouts in the league (267).
The Wenatchee AppleSox will send out Cole Hatton for another series opener on the road. In July, Hatton is 1-0 with 3.40 earned run average, 18 strikeouts and just five walks. The Grayland, WA, native has pitched more innings in each successive start this month. Hatton is coming off his first win last Tuesday at Walla Walla.
Jacob Kmatz gets the nod for Bend. The incoming freshman at Oregon State is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA in one appearance. He has pitched in two non-league games but allowed three runs (two earned) in four innings against Yakima Valley on July 20 to suffer the loss. He struck out seven Pippins and walked three.
Listen live to the action on Sunny FM at kcsyfm.com on your desktop computer or by tuning in at any of the following stations below. Reily Chestnut will provide the play-by-play coverage.
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 with the Denny’s Late Night Postgame Show.
Live stats can be found on Pointstreak.
