AppleSox Go For First Series Victory of 2024
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First Pitch: 6:35 p.m.
Park: Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium
Tickets: applesox.com/schedule
Watch: wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv
Listen: kcsyfm.com
Last Night: The AppleSox opened up the season with a 4-1 win against the Lefties last night... Antonio Gianni broke a 1-1 tie with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh and Stephen Hammergren fired three scoreless innings in relief to earn the win... The victory improved Wenatchee to 16-8 all-time in the first game of the season and 14-10 in home openers (league and non-league games included)...
Two-Hitter: For the third time in the last two seasons the AppleSox held an opponent to two hits in a victory... The most recent instance prior to last night came July 13, 2024 at Nanaimo in an 18-1... Last night also marked the second time in less than a year that the AppleSox limited the Lefties to only two hits in a game, with the other coming in a 7-0 win on July 4 at Civic Field...
Going For The Series Win: A victory tonight or tomorrow against Port Angeles would give Wenatchee 11 victories in 12 attempts since the two teams first faced each other in 2017... The AppleSox earned 12 series victories in 18 attempts against WCL opponents last season...
RISP: Despite last night’s victory, the AppleSox finished the day 2-for-17 when batting with runners in scoring position... Gianni’s go-ahead single in the seventh was the first hit while Jack Johnson’s RBI single in the eighth was the other knock...
Hartman Sets The Tone: After batting leadoff in 46 of Washington State’s 53 games this spring, Max Hartman batting leadoff in the AppleSox’ first game of the season and reached base in all five plate appearances with two doubles, two walks and an error. He also stole two bases and scored a run... Hartman hit .286 with 11 2B this spring while leading the Cougs with 41 RBI and 10 SB as a sophomore… He pened this spring with a 10-game hitting streak, had 17 multi-hit games and was hit by 11 pitches...
Quick Start To 2024: Last night’s game lasted just 2:19... Last season was the first in which the West Coast League enacted an action clock following the same rules of the NCAA but without a visible clock... AppleSox games averaged 2:55 in 2022 but dropped to 2:42 in 2023... Seven AppleSox games lasted 2:20 or less last summer...
Pitching Staff Picks Up Where It Left Off: Blake Reece fired six scoreless innings last night as the Opening Day starter and continued a trend... AppleSox starting pitchers have fired at least five innings in 35-of-55 regular-season games under second-year pitching coach Mike Callia... Wenatchee went 25-10 in those games and an AppleSox starter has fired at least five innings in 63.6-percent of games the last two seasons... The AppleSox’ 3.35 ERA last season was fifth-best in the WCL and a marked improvement from a 4.88 mark in 2022... Wenatchee also limited an opponent to one run or less for the 13th time in the last two seasons... The AppleSox’ four shutouts last season were their most in a season since 2012..
