AppleSox Host Elks on Fourth of July Weekend
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The Wenatchee AppleSox continue their six-game homestand by welcoming the Bend Elks to Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium tonight for a 6:35 p.m. game.
The AppleSox are coming off a 13-0 win over the Kelowna Falcons to give them their sixth win in the last nine games and their third consecutive series victory. Grant Sherrod hit a home run and scored all four times that he reached base and Wenatchee recorded its second shutout victory of the summer.
This is the first time that the AppleSox have faced the Elks since losing all three games a month ago to begin the season at Vince Genna Stadium. The AppleSox were twice walked off after holding leads late in both instances.
Offense was the theme of that season-opening series. Bend outscored Wenatchee 37-27 in the series and have kept scoring ever since then. The Elks leads the West Coast League with 248 hits, are tied for first with 178 runs and are second with a .285 batting average. Elijah Jackson is leading the way for the Elks and is sixth in the WCL with a .373 batting average. He picked up the walkoff hit against the AppleSox in the season-opener and was 4-for-10 at the plate against the AppleSox.
Chase Matheny makes his second start of the summer tonight for the AppleSox. He was brilliant two Thursday in his debut out of the rotation, only allowing one run in six innings of work to pick up the win in the AppleSox’ rubber-match victory over the Victoria HarbourCats. He is 2-0 this summer with a 4.50 ERA and 11 strikeouts over 12 innings in three appearances.
In a unique twist Matheny will face the team he played for in the West Coast League last summer. The right-hander from South Carolina Upstate did not pitch for the Elks a year ago but hit .304 in 35 games to post the third-best batting average on the team.
The Elks will send Reid Madariaga to the bump for his fourth start of the summer. The right-hander pitched twice against the AppleSox in the first two games of the season, both times in relief. He picked up the win in relief in the season-opener by giving up one run in the top of the ninth inning before the Elks rallied to score four times in the bottom of the ninth. Madariaga allowed three runs on five hits in two innings of relief in Game 2 to pick up a no decision. Since then he has only allowed three runs in 17.2 innings over his next five outings. The right-hander from Pierce College is 2-0 with a 3.04 ERA and 23 strikeouts over 20.2 innings over seven games.
The weekend opener is being sponsored by the Comfort Suites Wenatchee Gateway. Tickets are available at saferseating.com and gates open at 5:30 p.m.
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.
