Oyama Ties WCL Record But AppleSox Fall On Saturday

Joichiro Oyama reached base in all five plate appearances and tied the West Coast League single-season record by scoring twice but the AppleSox lost to the Walla Walla Sweets, 11-7, on Saturday afternoon at Borleske Stadium.

Oyama scored a pair of runs to give him 47 this summer, which is tied with AppleSox alum Mitchell Gunsolus and former Kelowna Falcon Taylor Wright for the WCL’s single-season record. Gunsolus set the record with 54 games played in 2012 and Wright matched it in 53 games in 2017 but Oyama ties both of them after his 41st game of 2022.

The incoming junior at UC Irvine also drew closer to two other single-season records. He tripled and scored on an error in the fifth inning to pick up his fourth triple of the summer. Current Milwaukee Brewer Keston Hiura holds the AppleSox’ single-season record with six triples in 2015. The WCL record is seven, set by Andy Atwood with the Corvallis Knights in 2019.

Despite Oyama’s heroics the AppleSox did not get on the board until the fourth inning and trailed 5-0 before that. Wenatchee out-hit the Sweets, 14-12, while Matt Halbach (three hits), Aiva Arquette, Enzo Apodaca and Grant Sherrod all recorded multi-hit games in addition to Oyama.

Adam Fahsel extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single in the eighth. He recorded the seventh different hitting streak of at least nine games for the AppleSox this summer. Fahsel’s streak is the AppleSox’ longest active hitting streak and is tied for the third-longest of the year, three games short of a pair of 12-game hitting streaks by Oyama and Michael Davinni.

The Sweets took a 5-0 lead into the fourth before the AppleSox got on the board. Wenatchee scored two runs apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but also gave up six runs combined in the bottom of those same three innings.

Their best chance to get back in the game came in the top of the fifth. Each of the first five hitters in the order reached base and two runs scored as the AppleSox batted with the bases loaded and no outs. All of the next three hitters struck out to retire the side and keep Walla Walla ahead, 8-4. The Sweets scored twice in the bottom of the inning to negate the AppleSox’ late charge.

Wenatchee will attempt to salvage the series on Sunday when it faces Walla Walla in the series finale. Quincy Vassar makes his seventh start of the summer and the series finale is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

Listen to the latest edition of the AppleSox Podcast for a recap of the game, highlights and a pregame interview with Sherrod. Subscribe to the AppleSox Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.