BLUEJACKETS FORCE RUBBER MATCH WITH POWERFUL PITCHING

SILVERDALE, Wash. – The Wenatchee AppleSox (19-23, 16-22) were held at bay by the Kitsap BlueJackets (14-25, 14-24), in a 5-2 loss Wednesday night at Gene Lobe Field on the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.

The BlueJackets were led by John Oltman (3-0), who made his final start of the summer for Kitsap.

Oltman held the AppleSox to just one hit, which came in the first inning, an infield single for Evan Douglas, which scored Keston Hiura, after Kitsap failed to throw home following the close play at first.

With a 1-0 lead in the bottom half, Zach Haggett (4-2) was hit for a tying run on an RBI single by Jake Scudder. He now leads Kitsap with 19 RBI in 2015.

Kitsap added two more in the second inning on an RBI hit by pitch for Calen Clardy and a sacrifice fly RBI fro Kyle Nobach, to take a 3-1 lead.

Haggett settled in to control the rest of his outing. He retired the side in three of the next five innings, and faced the minimum number of batters per inning, in each of those five frames.

Through six innings the AppleSox still trailed 3-1, and had been retired 16 consecutive times (13 by Oltman), dating back to the final out of the first inning. Hiura led off the seventh with a single, and the AppleSox got another runner, but couldn’t score a run.

Holden Capps, who took over for Oltman, got his second save of the season on four innings of relief. He allowed three hits, including the two in the seventh, and one run on a wild pitch in the eighth.

Kitsap added two runs of insurance in the bottom of the eighth, on an error and RBI single for Mitchell Robinson.

Capps finished the night with a pair of strikeouts to open the ninth, and ended the game on a ground ball.

The series will be decided Thursday in the rubber match of the three game set at Gene Lobe Field at Kitsap County Fairgrounds. Hunter Wells will take the mound at 6:35 p.m. for the AppleSox.

WP: John Oltman (3-0)
LP: Zach Haggett (4-2)
S: Holden Capps (2)