Following Sweep, Series Continues

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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (19-16, 15-15) were swept by the Walla Walla Sweets (15-15) in a 15-10 contest at Paul Thomas Sr. Field in Wenatchee, on Saturday.

The series is set to continue Monday night, this time at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla, Wash.

On Saturday, it was Walla Walla who was seemingly dominant out of the starting gates.

After falling down 2-1 after an inning of play, the Sweets came back to score two in the second, two in the fourth, and three in the top of the fifth to take an 8-2 lead.

The AppleSox were able to get three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to bring the defecit to three and after the Sweets answered with two more in the sixth, the AppleSox were able to tie the game thanks to a three run Nate Esposito home run and a 2 RBI AJ Alcantara double.

Cooper Hummel and Sean Bouchard came up with home runs in the eighth and ninth innings to give Walla Walla the lead and the eventual victory.

A new three game series with the Sweets starts tonight at Borleske Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 and Tom Zarosinski will be the starter for the AppleSox.

 

WW    1 2 0  2 3 2   0 1 4     15  15  0

WEN   2 0 0  0 3 5   0 0 0     10  10  3

 

WP – Jesse Houser

LP – Clark McKitrick

S –

Canning Carries AppleSox; Sweets Win Late

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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (19-15, 15-14) were led through the first six innings by Griffin Canning, before the Walla Walla Sweets (14-15) erupted for seven runs in the eighth inning to win, 7-5.

Canning was as dominant as he was on July 2nd, when he posted six scoreless innings on fireworks night. Friday’s contest was another six-inning, scoreless performance, for Canning. He also posted 10 strikeouts while giving up no walks.

In the seventh, Calvin LeBrun relieved Canning and tore through the Sweets one-two-three. In the eighth though, things uncharacteristically unraveled for LeBrun, who has been so strong in 2014.

All seven of Walla Walla’s runs came in the eighth. Six were scored off of LeBrun and another was plated off of Trenton Brooks.

The inning started with a single and Parker Osborne reached second on a passed ball. Back-to-back walks then loaded the bases and a fielder’s choice ground out scored Osborne to make the score 3-1. Another fielder’s choice, in which Nick Brooks elected to try to gun down a runner at the plate, resulted in a run for Walla Walla after the throw came up late.

From there, three Sweets singles kept things rolling and sprung to a 7-3 lead.

The AppleSox made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth as Joe Gillette came to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out. He doubled down the right field line to score two and cut the Sweets lead to 7-5. He represented the tying run, in scoring position, with still zero outs.

 

Jay Flaa rebounded and struck out the last three Wenatchee batters in the ninth, to preserve the win for Walla Walla.

 

The AppleSox first three runs came in the third and seventh innings. Kyle Vanderkin, new to the AppleSox on Friday night, walked to lead off the inning and scored on a Sam Brown RBI single down the left field line.

 

Vanderkin would pick up his first AppleSox hit in the fifth inning and come around to score following another hit in the seventh and two singles from Tyler Frost and Sam Brown.

 

The series with Walla Walla concludes on Saturday with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch at Paul Thomas Sr. Field.

 

WW    0 0 0  0 0 0   0 7 0     7   9   4

WEN   0 0 1  0 0 0   2 0 2     5  13  0

 

WP – Dillon Dove

LP – Calvin LeBrun

S –

Sweets Win Slugfest

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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (19-14, 15-13) were caught in an offensive storm on Thursday night with the Walla Walla Sweets (13-15), as the Sweets hit their way to a 16-9 win at Paul Thomas Sr. Field.

After three innings Walla Walla led the game 1-0. In the fourth, things opened up as the Sweets brought across four more runs.

Aldo Ferrante hit a two run home run in the inning. It was the first home run in the game and between the two teams, three more home runs would follow.

Caleb Wood hit a solo shot for Wenatchee in the 7th inning. It was a 36o foot shot to left field.

Michael Duarte stole the show offensively as he hit two solo home runs on Thursday. In the eighth and ninth innings, he sent shots over the left and right field fences. They were his second and third home runs of the season.

Parker Osborne also came up with two triples for the Sweets and four RBIs en route to his 13th on the season.

Sam Brown and Joe Gillette hit triples as well, to push the AppleSox team total to three on the season.

Brandon Bailey seemingly had good stuff on Thursday, however, the Sweets just hit the baseball hard. Walla Walla came up with 21 hits off of the three AppleSox pitchers, Bailey, Colton Loomis and Hunter Wells.

The AppleSox play game two on Friday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. and Griffin Canning will be on the mound for the AppleSox.

 

WW    1 0 0  4 3 3   0 4 1    16  21  4

WEN   0 0 0  2 0 5   1 1 0     9   13  4

 

WP – Mike Paulson

LP – Brandon Bailey

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AppleSox Shoot For Stars

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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (19-13, 15-13) came up with a huge offensive performance on Wednesday night as they won 22-0 over Northwest Star Academy (N/A) at Paul Thomas Sr. Field.

The AppleSox were the beneficiaries of two home runs. One was a three run shot courtesy of Ty Jackson and the other a solo blast for Trenton Brooks.

The AppleSox used a different rotation of pitchers to mix things up and provide adequate rest. Nathan Hadley started the game for Wenatchee and was relieved by Sam Brown, Nick Brooks and Trenton Brooks.

AJ Alcantara also provided five hits to the final total.

The AppleSox had eight of their nine starters collect at least one hit in the winning effort.

In a fun move, the AppleSox turned to their bullpen catcher, Cody Simmons, in the seventh inning. He ended up catching three frames off of the AppleSox pitching staff.

In his first at bat he went after a pitch in the lower half of the zone and hit it to left for a single. His second time up, he singled home a run with the bases loaded on a shot to right field.

Simmons is an upcoming junior at Wenatchee High School and Coach Knaggs believes that he could play for the AppleSox in the future.

The AppleSox have made it a tradition to try and get an appearance for their bullpen catcher in the final non league game of each season.

With the ending of non league play, the AppleSox welcome in another WCL East team to Paul Thomas Sr. Field on Thursday. Walla Walla will square off with the AppleSox at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow.

 

NWS   0 0 0  0 0 0   0 0 0     0    7   2

WEN   3 5 5  0 2 0   3 4 x    22  24  1

 

WP – Nathan Hadley

LP – Austin Hadley

S –

Merchants Unleash Bats

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WENATCHEE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (18-13, 15-13) found themselves in an offensive battle on Tuesday night as the Everett Merchants (18-6) combined with Wenatchee for 40 hits. The Merchants won 14-8.

Both teams shot out of a cannon offensively on Tuesday. Everett placed four runs on the board in the top of the first and Wenatchee answered back with five runs in the bottom half, after Cooper Elliott tattooed a three-run home run over the right field wall to give Wenatchee a 5-4 lead.

The AppleSox added another run in the second to take a 6-4 lead.

In the next three half innings, Everett ran wild offensively. Two runs in the third and fourth innings gave Everett an 8-6 lead. Another five runs in the fifth made the score 13-6.

The AppleSox chased Everett’s starter after a third of an inning and Tyler Frost made it through four innings after allowing 8 runs.

Clark McKitrick came on in relief and allowed the other six runs. Shaun Vetrovec worked the rest of the game out of the bullpen, allowing zero runs.

Every player in Wenatchee’s lineup on Tuesday recorded at least one hit.

The AppleSox have another non-league match up on Wednesday. They welcome NW Star College Prep to Paul Thomas Sr. Field for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch.

 

EVT    4 0 2  2 5 0   1 0 0     14  24  2

WEN   5 1 0  0 1 0   0 1 0      8   16  3

 

WP – Matt Richard

LP – Tyler Frost

S –

Welcome to Wenatchee, Vanderkin and Krueter

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The AppleSox will have two new faces this week, as Cole Krueter and Kyle Vanderkin make their first appearances of 2014 with the team.

The AppleSox have been hampered by injuries throughout their infield over the past couple weeks. With Tanner Nishioka and Nick Valaika both sidelined for the year, Wenatchee needed to add some faces to help allow infielders return to field their original positions.

Krueter will be headed to U.C. Irvine in 2015 and gets to join his future teammates John Brontsema, AJ Alcantara, Evan Cassolato and Shaun Vetrovec in Wenatchee.

He was released by the Victoria HarbourCats of the WCL prior to making his move to Wenatchee.

HarbourCats Management stated, "Cole wants to get more playing time in, and we believe another team will benefit from his skill-set. We are expecting he will help fill a hole with the Wenatchee AppleSox, where he and his family have connections and where there is a need in the middle infield that we don't have here. Cole would be welcome back any time in his college career to be part of the HarbourCats program, we think the world of him."

Vanderkin is a transfer player who will be joining the Gonzaga Bulldogs in 2015. He was recommended to the AppleSox coaches by Gonzaga's current coaching staff.

Vanderkin was a 2013 Western Region Second Team selection.

AppleSox Win Third Divisional Series

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KELOWNA, BC. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (18-12, 15-12) were down 2-0 after an inning of play on Sunday and a repeat of Saturday’s tough go, looked like it could be in the cards. Then, Wenatchee struck back for four runs in the third to spur a 5-3 win over the Kelowna Falcons (8-19).  

The first two runs of the game came off of AppleSox starter Drew Rasmussen on three two out hits and during the first two innings, the AppleSox were retired in order; six up, six down.

Finally in the third, Wenatchee broke through offensively. Nate Esposito walked to open the frame and after a ground out, Joe Gillette singled to put runners at the corners.

Sam Brown then singled home Esposito o in the next at bat. Trenton Brooks followed up Brown’s hit with a single of his own and it looked as though the bases would be loaded. Unfortunately for Kelowna, an errant throw back to the infield allowed Gillete to score the tying run and Brown went to third with Brooks moving up to second.

Caleb Wood grounded out to score Brown and then Michael McCann doubled down the left field line to bring home Brooks.

In the fifth inning, Evan Cassolato led off the frame with a double. Nate Esposito then laid down a bunt and beat it up the first base line. Simon Rosenbaum knocked in Cassolato on a fielder’s choice.

Rasmussen allowed five total hits over five innings, Sunday. The last hit he allowed was a solo home run to Andrew Godbold that cut the lead to two.

Calvin LeBrun took over in the sixth inning for Rasmussen and worked for four innings, earning the save. He allowed one hit (a two out single in the ninth) after 3.2 innings of work.

He earned his third save on the season and the AppleSox committed zero errors after suffering seven a night ago. Sunday’s game marked the fifth time the AppleSox haven’t committed an error this season.

With the win, the AppleSox have taken their third WCL East Division series in as many tries. They return to action on Tuesday in a non-league contest against the Everett Merchants. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

 

WEN   0 0 4  1 0 0   0 0 0     5  9  0

KEL    2 0 0  0 1 0   0 0 0     3  6  1

 

WP – Drew Rasmussen

LP – Jeremy Newton

S – Calvin LeBrun

Errors Hurt AppleSox

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KELOWNA, BC. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (17-12, 14-12) were hit hard defensively, Saturday night. Eight errors and a seven run fourth inning proved to be too much to overcome against the Kelowna Falcons (8-18), who evened the series.

The AppleSox, who have already lost multiple left side infielders appeared to take another blow on Saturday night as Ty Jackson left the game in the third inning.

Ian Buckles was roughed up for the first time in 2014. He gave up two runs in the first and three in the second. A one-two-three inning in the third preceded the seven run fourth.

Out of the 12 runs surrendered by Buckles, only five were ruled to be earned.

Nathan Hadley would relieve Buckles and gave up one run on two hits. His surrendered run was also unearned.

Shaun Vetrovec threw two innings of no-hit baseball for Wenatchee and Nick Brooks added an inning of one hit baseball.

The AppleSox runs came in the second, fourth and ninth innings. In the second, Michael McCann was brought home on an error at shortstop. Joe Gillette was able to reach base safely. He came around to score in the fourth, when Tyler Frost was hit by a pitch.

Sam Murphy, the Falcons starter, went four and a third innings and gave up six hits and two runs (one earned).

The last major issue for Kelowna came in the top of the ninth, when a new pitcher, Kevin Flemer, walked the bases loaded. He was pulled and Lincoln Herendeen gave up a single to Trenton Brooks that scored Nate Esposito. Caleb Wood then grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Joe Gillette. Both runs were charged to Flemer.

A rubber match game three is set for Sunday night at 6:05 p.m. in Kelowna. Drew Rasmussen will get the start for the AppleSox.

                                 

WEN   1 1 0  0 1 0   3 1 2      4   8  8

KEL    0 0 0  0 0 1   0 0 0     13 16 2

 

WP – Wyatt Mills

LP – Ian Buckles

S –

AppleSox Create Own Fireworks

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Sam Brown connects on a solo home run in the top of the first inning at Elks Stadium on Friday night. Photo Courtesy of Matt Williams

Sam Brown connects on a solo home run in the top of the first inning at Elks Stadium on Friday night. Photo Courtesy of Matt Williams

KELOWNA, BC. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (17-11, 14-11) noticed the absence of Independence Day fireworks on the Kelowna skyline, so they created their own on Friday while taking down the Kelowna Falcons (7-18) by a score of 9-1.

Sam Brown started off Friday’s contest the right way with a solo home run to right field in the top of the first.

The AppleSox jumped out to a 1-0 lead for their starter Tom Zarosinski, who allowed just one hit through his first five innings of work.

Over those five innings, the only issue for the AppleSox was allowing runners on base. The team allowed six runners on via two batters hit by pitch, two walks, a dropped third strike and an error.

Wenatchee added a second run in the second, when Trenton Brooks came around to score on a Joe Gillette sacrifice fly. The run was set up by a beautiful sacrifice bunt from Simon Rosenbaum. He would set up a similar situation in the seventh, when Trenton Brooks scored a second time on a Tyler Frost sacrifice fly.

Sam Brown’s great night wasn’t over following the home run. He hit an RBI triple in his third at bat. The only downside to the play was that the Falcons third baseman and pitcher were able to pull over the hidden ball trick and tag out Brown before the next pitch as he took his lead.

In his next at bat, Brown doubled and set up the chance for the cycle in the ninth, with presumably the easiest of the hits remaining; the single.

In the top of the ninth he drilled a 3-1 pitch toward the gap, but it was barely caught by the Falcons right fielder on the edge of the warning track.

The AppleSox surrendered the Falcons only run in the sixth, after Andrew Godbold got on base with a lead off double to center. He scored on a Brandon Grimsley single.

Colton Loomis picked up the save Friday. He offered up 3 innings of no hit baseball to close the door.

The AppleSox continue the three game set in Kelowna on Saturday, as Ian Buckles takes the mound for another 6:35 start.                                              

 

WEN   1 1 0  0 1 0   3 1 2      9 14 1

KEL    0 0 0  0 0 1   0 0 0      1  3  0

 

WP – Tom Zarosinski

LP – Josh Nuerenberg

S – Colton Loomis