Meyers Shuts Door, AppleSox Win Season Opener

Luke Meyers struck out six over the final five innings in relief and the Wenatchee AppleSox began the 2023 season with a 6-4 win over the Bend Elks on Friday night at Vince Genna Stadium.

Meyers (1-0) entered in the fifth inning and went the distance in his first outing in an AppleSox uniform. Wenatchee scored five runs in the third inning to erase an early 3-0 deficit.

Meyers flirted with danger in the eighth and ninth innings but escaped the first time and limited the damage the second time. After the first two hitters reached in the eighth he punched out the next three hitters in order. Prior to the eighth he only allowed two batters to reach in the previous three innings.

Marcus Harrison, Travis Helm and Ty Kennedy all reached base three times and all of them contributed in the big third inning. Helm led off with a single, the AppleSox’ first hit of the game and then Aiden Van Ransom, Nino Vultaggio and Kennedy all reached on walks to drive in the first run. Harrison singled to left to drive in Van Ransom before Vultaggio scored on a wild pitch. Easton Amundson and Austin Bunn hit consecutive sacrifice flies to score the final two runs.

That response came after surrendering three runs in the first inning when each of the Elks first three hitters reached base and came around to score. The 5-3 score held from the third inning to the ninth when Amundson delivered a two-out RBI single and the Elks got the run back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI groundout.

The AppleSox improved to 15-8 all time in season openers with the win on Friday night. A win on Saturday or Sunday would give the AppleSox their first series win at Bend since 2019. First pitch on Saturday night is at 6:35 p.m. and Ryan Martinez makes his first start of the summer for the AppleSox.

Listen to the AppleSox Podcast below to hear a recap of the game as well as interviews with Meyers and head coach Mitch Darlington.