AppleSox Begin Pivotal Stretch vs Bellingham

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The Wenatchee AppleSox open up a six-games-in-six-days stretch against the Bellingham Bells tonight at 6:35 p.m. at Joe Martin Field.

It is an important early-season test for the AppleSox as they go up against a Bells squad that made the postseason last year and posted the best ERA in the West Coast League. Bellingham is 4-4 so far and is a half-game back of the AppleSox for second in North Division while Wenatchee is a half-game back of first.

The AppleSox lost a non-league game last night to the Northwest Star Academy, 14-5, but have still won five-of-their-last-six games, including sweeping the Springfield Drifters this past weekend. Wenatchee swept the doubleheader on Saturday by identical 7-4 scores after Friday’s series opener was postponed due to rain. The AppleSox wrapped up the series sweep by rallying to score five times in the bottom of the fifth on Sunday and then coasted to an 11-6 win in front of 968 fans at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

The AppleSox enter Tuesday’s game tied for the best batting average in the WCL and infielder Joichiro Oyama is a big reason why. The reigning West Coast League Player of the Week’s .463 batting averages leads all WCL players who have played in at least nine games. He hit .520 (13-for-25) last week and has at least one hit in all nine AppleSox games to go along with eight multi-hit games. Oyama, Aiva Arquette, Michael Davinni, Xander Orejudos and CJ Horn have all played at least six games and are all batting over .350.

Kota Sato gets the ball for his second start of the summer for the AppleSox. He made his debut in the home opener on June 6 and gave up two unearned runs in the first inning but recovered to stymie the Port Angeles Lefties the rest of the way. He only allowed four hits and two walks over five innings and struck out six to pick up the victory. The incoming sophomore at Edmonds retired each of the final nine hitters that he faced in order.

Trevin Hope from Lewis & Clark State College is Bellingham’s probable pitcher. He allowed one unearned run in 5.2 innings on June 1 to pick up the victory in the Bells’ 2-1 triumph over the Drifters. The right-hander is in his second summer with the Bells after going 1-5 last summer with a 3.44 ERAA in nine games (six starts). Hope punched out 37 hitters in 34 innings last year while only walking 13.

Tonight’s game can be listened to live on kcsyfm.com on your computer or smart phone. If you live in Washington you can listen on your radio on any of the following stations…

  • 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

Coverage of tonight’s game begins at 6:10 p.m. with the Horan Estates Winery Pregame Show. Stick around after the game to hear the postgame show with player and coach interviews.

Live stats can be found on pointstreak.