APPLESOX, FALCONS FIGHT FOR SERIES WIN

The AppleSox and the Falcons play for the series, Thursday night in British Columbia. 

WENATCHEE APPLESOX at Kelowna Falcons
Elks Stadium |       6:35 p.m.  
L- Grady Miller (3-2) vs. R- Max Carter (2-0)
GAME NOTES       |       APPLESOX STATS       |       LISTEN LIVE

The Wenatchee AppleSox (17-30, 7-13, 7-10 North), fifth place in the North Division wrap up their six-game road trip at the Kelowna Falcons (22-22, 9-8, 8-9) after wining a series against Bellingham, 2-1...with last night’s win, tonight’s game decided the fate of the series...the AppleSox are playing their 17th franchise season (12th in the WCL) and are led by second-year skipper, AJ Proszek (45-61) (.425), who is in his 4th season with the Sox...Proszek is assisted by Kyle Hunt and Colton Loomis, both in their first seasons.

LAST NIGHT - APPLESOX 13, KELOWNA 3
KELOWNA –   The Wenatchee AppleSox (17-30, 7-13 Second Half), were lifted by a season-best offensive performance over the Kelowna Falcons (22-22, 9-8), in a 13-3 victory to even the three-game series at Elks Stadium, Wednesday...early on, Wenatchee let Okeefe Hall (1-1) dig his own hole...the Falcon starter walked six batters and left the game in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out...four runs came to score on an error and two hits, including an RBI single for Dalton Harum, and an RBI single for Haydan Hastings...Harum finished an outstanding 3-for-4 with two walks for Wenatchee...Kelowna got one run off of Mac Lardner (1-2) in the bottom of the third on a groundout, but Wednesday night was all about the AppleSox...Wenatchee crossed its next three runs in the fifth and sixth innings, courtesy of four Falcon errors...Kelowna committed an opponent-high six errors in the loss...in the seventh, with the AppleSox still facing marathon reliever Cody Ahlgrimm, Michael Toglia clubbed an inside-the-park grand slam off the wall in center field...the grand slam gave Wenatchee an 11-1 advantage...the AppleSox added two more runs in the eighth and ninth innings, to complete five-straight scoring frames, and ran away late against Kelowna’s second baseman turned pitcher, who was working in fireman’s relief...Kelowna did come back for two more runs in the ninth against Adam Paulson on a triple and a single, however, Paulson worked 3 1/3 innings behind Lardner to earn his first save of the season. 

TONIGHT'S NOTES
WALLS CAN’T CONTAIN
The AppleSox have generated some magic inside the confines of the parks they’ve visited on the road trip...Wenatchee has hit inside-the-park home runs in two of the last three games, including one of the grand slam variety last night for Michael Toglia.

WHAT CAN YOU SAY?
For the second time in two nights and the seventh time this season Michael Toglia hammered a home run...and this one wasn’t anywhere near the normal variety...one, it came with the bases loaded, and two, the thing never left the park...with seven he now leads the WCL in homers and is two ahead of three players tied for second...with the slam he took over the league lead in RBI with 35, two ahead of Tommy Lane of Bend...the big hit was the 14th grand slam in team history, the 11th in league play...he is the fourth Sox to hit at least seven home runs in league games in a season...the record is nine by Taylor Sparks in ‘12...four of the 14 grand slams have been against Kelowna...he also leads the league in triples 5, extra base hits 20, total bases 82 and slugging percentage .569.

HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS
Last night, everybody in the batting order collected at least one hit, and the Sox tallied a season-high 17 knocks...Wenatchee also came up with 13 runs...he most this season...the last time Wenatchee scored at least that many was a 17-7 win over the Falcons a year ago...only six other times this season have teams in the league tallied at least 13 runs - Bend 15, Corvallis, Bellingham and Yakima Valley 14, Bend and Victoria 13...by hitting volume, the AppleSox were led by local outfielder Dalton Harum, who went 3-for-4.

LARDNER’S FIRST WIN
Mac Lardner pitched 5 2/3 innings to pick up his first collegiate win last night...he was in and around the zone, only allowing one run to Kelowna, who tacked on two in the ninth.

FIRST WIN, EH?
With last night’s victory, the AppleSox won their first game in Canada in 2016...they have just one more game left to go in Canada...tonight’s contest.

IMPROVING AGAINST THE BEST
Wenatchee is now 5-13 against teams who were leading/sharing a lead of the WCL North and South Divisions at the start of a game...the AppleSox are 13-25 against teams with a better record.

GONNA BE TOUGH
Expect runs to be at a premium against Grady Miller tonight. He has only given up one earned run per game in each of his last three starts...he has averaged just over seven-innings per start during that three-game stretch.