Pitching Prevails in Extras

KELOWNA, BC. – On Thursday night, pitching took center (or shall we say centre) stage at Elks Stadium in the Wenatchee AppleSox (33-23, 29-22) final Canadian outing. In ten innings, they eventually took down the Kelowna Falcons (15-36) 6-2, for the series sweep.

Wenatchee was led by their starter Calvin LeBrun, who saved his longest start of his summer for his last, going seven innings and only allowing three hits to Kelowna.

LeBrun was backed up by Hunter Wells, who offered up three innings of one-hit relief and was made to be the winner in extra innings.

LeBrun had seven strikeouts on Thursday which was also a single-game high for the southpaw on the season. He tallied one-two-three innings in the first, fourth, and sixth innings. He left the game in a 2-2 tie.

The AppleSox would get their first of a regulation two runs on a Ty Jackson RBI single in the first inning, scoring Evan Cassolato.

The second run for Wenatchee was earned in the third inning, as Tyler Frost got to third on a one-out triple and was sacrificed home by Cassolato. The triple was the AppleSox only extra base hit on the day.

Kelowna’s scoring came in the third and fifth innings. In the third, a double by Colton Waltner, a catcher turned second baseman on Thursday, was good for the Falcons’ first run. Waltner made several fantastic defensive plays in the field as well.

In the fifth, Kelowna played small ball as a leadoff walk allowed Anthony Gosline on base. A sacrifice by Tommy Lane got him to second and with one out he advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Ryo Shishido helped create a sacrifice suicide squeeze that scored Gosline to even the game at two. Despite the run, LeBrun allowed no hits in the inning. He held Kelowna hitless in the fourth through seventh innings.

Hunter Wells took over and offered up a one-two-three seventh, while Kelowna starter Josh Nuernberg was just finishing up his seven and a third innings.

Nuernberg only allowed the two Wenatchee runs on three hits.

The Falcons’ best chance to win the game came in the bottom of the ninth as they worked the bases loaded with one out. Unfortunately, a squeeze attempt  was bare-handed in front of the mound by Wells, who intelligently went home for the force at the plate and Michael McCann doubled up the batter at first.

That paved the way for extra innings, and for the second straight night Wenatchee would waste no time getting on the board in the tenth. Jackson hit an RBI single to center field for the 3-2 lead with two outs. The AppleSox would add three more in the inning.

Hunter Wells secured his own win in the bottom of the tenth as he plowed one-two-three through the Falcons to conclude the AppleSox road season in 2014.

For the second time in 2014, the AppleSox swept a divisional opponent on the road, a feat the team hadn’t previously accomplished since 2012.

The final series of the season starts tonight for Wenatchee. The WCL East Champion Yakima Valley Pippins come to town and the AppleSox have a chance to finalize their already winning-

season record against the Pippins. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.

WEN   1 0 1  0 0 0   0 0 0   4    6 10 0  

KEL    0 0 1  0 1 0   0 0 0   0    2  4  2

WP – Hunter Wells

LP – Michael Gould

S –