AppleSox Head To Bend To Conclude Regular Season

First Pitch: 6:35 p.m.
Park: Vince Genna Stadium
Watch: wcleague.watch.pixellot.tv
Listen: kcsyfm.com


GAME NOTES

Wenatchee Probable Pitcher: The AppleSox send Cam Hoiland to the mound for the first game of their final series this regular season… The incoming senior at Cal Poly is 1-1 with a 4.83 ERA, 16 strikeouts, nine walks and 23 hits over 22.1 innings in six games (five starts)… Hoiland surrendered a season-high four runs in 3.1 innings in his last start July 28 at Edmonton… Prior to that, he had allowed three runs or less in each of his outings…

Bend Probable Pitcher: Josh Wakefield makes his seventh appearance and fifth start tonight for the Elks… He just pitched two days again against Corvallis, allowing two runs over five innings to pick up a no-decision… Wakefield has excelled at the plate this summer, batting .326 with six extra-base hits and 17 RBI in 29 games as a position player… Overall on the bump the incoming sophomore at Iowa Western is 0-1 with a 10.12 ERA, 14 strikeouts, 12 walks and 12 hits over 10.2 innings…

Last Game: The AppleSox earned their 12th series victory of the summer with a 6-3 over Nanaimo on Sunday at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium… Quincy Vassar struck out six over six shutout innings and Evan Cloyd homered in the bottom of the first for his third long ball of the year… The NightOwls cut the deficit to one after a three-run seventh but would not get any closer…

Starter/Reliever Splits: AppleSox starters vs. relievers posted very different numbers over this past weekend’s series against Nanaimo… Wenatchee starting pitchers logged 16 innings and only surrendered five runs in that span… Two starters fired six complete innings and the three pitchers combined to record a 2.81 ERA… Conversely, the AppleSox used eights pitchers to cover the other 11 innings and surrendered 12 earned runs, good for a 9.82 ERA… Only two AppleSox relievers recorded scoreless appearances as Chase Hansen fired a scoreless seventh on Saturday and Andrew Monson recorded a six-out save on Sunday…

The Colossus Of Cloyd: Evan Cloyd continued his dominant summer with his third home run on Sunday… He has hit eight home runs in three West Coast League seasons after smacking five over the previous two summers in Portland… Sunday’s long ball extended Cloyd’s on-base streak to 25 games… The only game this summer that he did not reach base in was his season debut June 26 as a pinch hitter…

If The Season Ended Today: The AppleSox would face the Victoria HarbourCats in the North Division Series… Victoria currently holds the second wild card in the North Division by possessing the fourth-best record in the North Division overall… The HarbourCats are 2.5 games back of Wenatchee for first place in the second half… If they tie with Wenatchee in the second half then they will be the second seed in the Division Series and would not face the AppleSox… Wenatchee won four-of-six games vs. Victoria this summer and would face them in the postseason for a second straight season…

30 Wins: For the second straight season and for the sixth time in franchise history the AppleSox have earned at least 30 wins in a season... It’s the first time that Wenatchee has hit 30 victories in back-to-back summers since 2011-12... The AppleSox will need to finish 3-0 over their final five games to match last summer’s 37-17 record for the second-most wins in a single season in team history...

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… The AppleSox and the Riverhawks both finished with 18-9 records in the first half but Wenatchee (+37) held a better run differential (+35)…

Home Field Advantage: Sunday’s win locked up home-field advantage for the North Division, should the AppleSox reach it... They will open the postseason on the road Saturday against either Edmonton or Victoria before Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3 will be played at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium... The AppleSox have the third-best record in the WCL behind Corvallis (40-12) and Portland (37-14)...