AppleSox Can't Hold Early Lead vs Black Bears
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The Wenatchee AppleSox struck first and led 4-0 after two innings but fell to the Cowlitz Black Bears, 10-7, on Thursday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.
The Black Bears scored five runs over the final three innings to win the rubber match. Joichiro Oyama and Xander Orejudos both recorded multi-hit efforts in the loss. Oyama tripled in a pair of runs in the second inning to record his fifth triple of the summer. He is now one away from matching the AppleSox’ single-season record for triples, set by current Milwaukee Brewer Keston Hiura in 2015.
Wenatchee opened the scoring with an RBI double from Michael Davinni in the first before Oyama’s big swing in the second. He would come into score on a groundout by Matt Halbach to make it 4-0, Wenatchee.
The turning point of the game came in the third inning. Adam Fahsel drew a bases-loaded, one-out walk to bring in a run as the AppleSox answered Cowlitz’s three-run top of the third. That made it 5-3, AppleSox, but the next two hitters, Oyama and Halbach, were retired consecutively to end the inning with the bases still loaded.
The Black Bears scored in each of the next two innings to tie the game up. They briefly took the lead with a one-out solo home run in the top of the seventh before Orejudos answered with a two-out single in the bottom of the frame. Cowlitz created some breathing room with a three-run eighth and one more run of insurance in the ninth before CJ Horn hit an opposite-field RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for the final run of the night.
Wenatchee is now tied with Bellingham and Edmonton for first place in the North Division in the second half. If the season ended today, then the AppleSox would win the second half playoff berth. The Bells already won the first half and the AppleSox hold the tiebreaker over the Riverhawks by virtue of having won two-of-three games in the season series. Edmonton would still make the postseason as the three seed because their 21-23 record is the third-best in the North Division overall. They would host Game 1 of the Division series against Wenatchee with Games 2 and (if necessary) 3 being played at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.
The AppleSox look to separate themselves from the pack this weekend as they face the Kamloops NorthPaws at Norbrock Stadium. Wenatchee swept Kamloops a week ago but is 2-4 since then. First pitch on Friday night is at 6:35 p.m.
Listen to the latest edition of the AppleSox Podcast to hear a recap, highlights and a pregame interview with Conner Ashworth. Subscribe to the AppleSox Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
