Haarer Earns Win In Final Start, Helps AppleSox Defeat NightOwls

The Wenatchee AppleSox won their fourth consecutive game with a 5-1 victory over the Nanaimo NightOwls on Friday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Toby Haarer (5-1) allowed one run over five innings while Josh Williams drove in three runs to give the AppleSox the season-series victory over the NightOwls. Wenatchee (29-11, 10-3) remains in first place in the North Division in the second half and overall. Friday’s win was their ninth consecutive home victory in league play.

After Haarer struck out two in a 1-2-3 first inning Williams put the AppleSox on the board first in the bottom half. Carson Ohland drew a one-out walk and Williams launched the second pitch he saw 398 feet away for his fifth home run of the summer. He is tied for the third-most long balls in the WCL and all of them have come in the last nine games. Wenatchee leads the WCL with 27 home runs and has gone deep in each of the last six games.

Williams added a sacrifice fly in the third before later recording a double and a single to finish a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. The AppleSox’ other runs came in the fourth when Izzy Lopez singled in Cooper Whitton and in the seventh when Brandham Ponce singled in Ohland.

Braiden Boyd tossed three scoreless innings after Haarer and struck out three. He only allowed one walk and one hit to record his second multi-inning scoreless effort out of the bullpen. Evan Canfield pitched around back-to-back walks to record a scoreless ninth.

Wenatchee will attempt to win its 11th series of the summer on Saturday night when it hosts Nanaimo at 6:35. It’s Pepsi Night and tickets can be purchased at applesox.com/2023-schedule.