AppleSox Look To Win Season Series vs. Pippins

First Pitch: 7:05 p.m.
Park: Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium
Tickets: applesox.com/schedule
Watch: wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv
Listen: kcsyfm.com

Wenatchee Probable Pitcher: Garrett Ahern starts after an AppleSox win for just second time in what will be his sixth start of the summer tonight... The WCL All-Star is 2-0 with a 3.13 ERA in his first five outings and is coming off tossing a scoreless fourth inning in the midsummer classic last Wednesday at Joe Martin Field... Ahern fired a season-high 5.2 innings in his most recent start on July 10 to earn the win against Edmonton... The right-hander from Grand Canyon allowed three runs on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts... Ahern fired 4.1 innings at Yakima Valley on June 19, allowing one run on three hits, two walks and two strikeouts...

Yakima Probable Pitcher: Adam Brooks looks to snap a personal three-game losing streak tonight in his seventh start of the summer… The lefty from Puyallup is 1-4 with a 6.23 ERA, 18 strikeouts, 21 walks and 19 hits allowed over 21.2 innings… Brooks last pitched on July 6 at Bend and surrendered seven runs over three innings… The incoming sophomore at Northwest Nazarene has walked at least three in five games this summer…

Last Night: The AppleSox erased a two-run deficit while down to their final six outs by scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and won, 12-9… James Castagnola collected three hits and drove in two runs while Luca Boscarino plated three with two hits… Cam Hoiland earned a no-decision but struck out seven over six innings while allowing three runs and retiring 11 straight hitters at one point…

No Quit: Last night marked the fifth time that the AppleSox came back to win despite trailing after six innings… That figure is second-best in the WCL after Edmonton’s seven wins when down after six innings… Wenatchee is far more often used to leading six innings and is 17-1 in those scenarios…

Top Offense: The AppleSox lead the WCL in batting average (.289) and runs scored (271)... Wenatchee has scored 36 more runs than the next-closest team (Portland) and faces the team with the second-worst ERA in the WCL in Yakima Valley (5.57 ERA)...

Swipster: Aidan Dougherty stole his team-leading 16th base in the first last night and moved into a tie with for seventh-most in a single AppleSox season with Matt Moynihan (2009)... His next steal will move him into a tie for sixth with Breland Almadova (2011)... Joichiro Oyama (2022) is Wenatchee’s and the WCL’s single-season stolen-base record holder with 42...

First Half Champs: For the first time since the two-half playoff berths began being awarded in 2016 the AppleSox have won the North Division first half title and have locked up home-field advantage as the top seed in the first round of the playoffs… This is the 16th playoff berth in franchise history and the fourth in the last five seasons… Wenatchee had to wait for the result of Edmonton's game on Monday before officially claiming the title… The AppleSox and the Riverhawks both finished with 18-9 records in the first half but Wenatchee (+37) held a better run differential than the Riverhawks (+35)…

Stretch Run: Only 16 games remain in the regular season and the AppleSox are still pushing to lock up home-field advantage for the North Division Championship Game and the West Coast League Championship Game, if they can reach them... Wenatchee’s 25-13 mark is currently tops in the entire North Division and would earn them home-field advantage for the North Division Championship Game if the season ended today and they reached it... The AppleSox have the third-best record in the WCL behind Corvallis (29-9) and Portland (27-11)... Wenatchee is also ahead of Edmonton by a game-and-a-half for first place in the North in the second half...

Cloyd Commits: AppleSox first baseman Evan Cloyd announced his commitment to Cal State Bakersfield yesterday… He is on a tear at the plate, batting .360 with two home runs, six doubles and 13 RBI in 14 games… Cloyd is currently on a six-game hitting streak, batting .478 (11-for-23) with four doubles and a home run over it…

Nine-Or-More: Wenatchee has scored at least nine runs in each of the first two games of this series and now has scored nine-or-more runs in a game 16 times this summer… The AppleSox’ 283 runs lead the West Coast League and they are 13-3 when scoring at least nine times…