AppleSox Embark On Final Road Trip Of Regular Season
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After clinching a playoff spot this past weekend the Wenatchee AppleSox will wrap up the regular season with a six-game road trip, beginning tonight against the Bellingham Bells at 6:35 at Joe Martin Field.
The AppleSox are coming off a three-game sweep of the Edmonton Riverhawks to eliminate them from the playoffs. Wenatchee's eighth sweep of the summer set a new single-season record for the 23-year-old franchise. They also finished the summer at 21-6 at home in regular season play against West Coast League opponents, another new record set by this summer's team.
Now, Wenatchee looks to lock in its playoff positioning. If the season ended today, then the AppleSox would hold home-field advantage in the first round of the North Division Series. Bellingham has already secured the top seed by winning the first half but Wenatchee will hold home-field advantage for the entire postseason if it finishes the summer with both top spot in the North Division in the second half and the top overall record in the WCL.
With six games remaining in the regular season the AppleSox' magic number is down to four to win the North in the second half. They will travel to Kelowna after this series and look to remain above third-place Victoria, who sits 2.5 games back of Wenatchee. The Falcons sit in fourth place in the standings and are four games out of first place. The AppleSox took two-of-three games against them June 16-18 at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium. Kelowna takes on Kamloops (11-35, 4-15 second half) this week before hosting the AppleSox to wrap up the regular season. Meanwhile, Victoria travels to Edmonton (15-33, 8-13 second half) after hosting Nanaimo (24-24, 10-11 second half).
The Bells came to the Apple Capital last week and took the final two games of the series with the AppleSox after dropping the first game of the series. Wenatchee won 5-1 a week ago to earn its 12th consecutive win at home, a new franchise record, but the Bells began a stretch of five consecutive victories last Wednesday. Bellingham swept Port Angeles over the weekend and is now two wins away from matching its season-best seven-game win streak from June 21-27.
For the second week in a row an AppleSox player earned WCL Player Of The Week after Frankie Carney took home the honor. He hit .370 (10-for-27) with three multi-hit games, seven runs and three stolen bases. Carney became the third AppleSox player to earn the WCL Player Of The Week honor in 2023, joining Easton Amundson (June 12-18) and Carson Ohland (July 17-23).
Felix Schlede makes his fourth start of the summer for Wenatchee. The right-hander at Central Arizona has no record, a 1.92 ERA, 12 strikeouts, six walks and six hits over 9.1 innings in three games. He gave up one run on five hits, two walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings last Tuesday against the Bells. This will be his ninth game on the mound for the AppleSox in the last two summers but his first appearance on the road.
Bellingham will also send the same starter as last Tuesday to the bump with Daniel Paret getting the ball. The lefty from Stetson is 2-3 with a 4.15 ERA, 40 strikeouts, 17 walks and 19 hits over 21.2 innings in seven games (all starts). He suffered the loss by surrendering two runs on six hits, two walks and one strikeout last week.
Fans can tune in to the action tonight and all season long on KCSY Sunny FM. Pregame coverage presented by Kenady Real Estate Group begins at 6:10 p.m. You can listen online worldwide at kcsyfm.com, the TuneIn radio app or on one of the following translators.
93.9 FM in Wenatchee
95.3 FM in the Lake Chelan Valley
97.7 FM in Omak, Riverside, Tonasket and Oroville
98.1 FM in East Wenatchee, Rock Island and Quincy
101.3 FM in Brewster and Pateros
106.3 FM in the Methow Valley
All West Coast League games are video broadcast on wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv.
