Welk, Big Inning Lead AppleSox Past Dudes

The Wenatchee AppleSox scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to defeat the Redmond Dudes, 9-4, on Monday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Drew Welk twirled five shutout innings of relief. He entered in the third and struck out five while only allowing one hit. Welk induced inning-ending double-play balls in the fifth and seventh.

The AppleSox trailed 4-0 after two-and-a-half innings before getting on the board with an RBI groundout in the third. Welk entered in the top of that inning and stranded two men. He went on to strike out one hitter in each of his five scoreless frames.

Wenatchee broke through in the fifth to take the lead for good. Antonio Gianni and Damon Gaither recorded back-to-back RBI singles after a wild pitch with the bases loaded plated the first run. They recorded a double steal and Fred Buckson hit a ground ball to short that would have scored Gianni and been the second out of the inning but the ball was thrown away and Buckson went to second on the error. Harrison Clark singled in Gaither and Buckson for the final two runs of the inning.

Joe Scheffler scored Wenatchee’s final three runs with a single and a steal in the sixth before Gianni tripled him in. Scheffler drew a leadoff walk in the eighth, stole second and third and came home on a throwing error.

The AppleSox return to league play on Tuesday night when they travel to Port Angeles. Wenatchee swept the Lefties over the weekend by outscoring them 35–16. First pitch is at 6:35 each night for the first three games of a six-game road trip. Fans can listen to the game on 93.9 FM in Wenatchee or online at kcsym.com. The game can also be watched on westcoastleague.com/streaming.