APPLESOX SCORE EARLY, DON’T LOOK BACK IN SERIES WIN

The AppleSox took a series from the Bellingham Bells, and won their third-straight Sunday afternoon, to the tune of a 4-1 final in Bellingham. 

BOX SCORE

BELLINGHAM –  The Wenatchee AppleSox (16-28, 6-11 Second Half), picked up their first series win of the WCL second half in a 4-1 final over the Bellingham Bells (22-19, 7-7), Sunday afternoon at Joe Martin Field.

Again, Wenatchee scored early in game two of the series. Michael Toglia led off the second inning with a double to right field, which kick-started a 4-for-5 night for Wenatchee’s leading hitter. 

Following a Matt Reitano walk, and a wild pitch, Taylor Borchers hit a groundout to shortstop that score the AppleSox first run of the day. In the next at bat, in his second game, Dalton Harum parked a two-run home run over the left field fence into the lot beyond the wall. Hit off of Gio Lopez (1-1), it was the first hit of the season and collegiate career for Harum, a new addition playing in just his second game.  

The score held until the sixth inning, when Matt Young (3-0) left after throwing five shutout innings and striking out five batters. 

With Ross Clevenger on the mound, Bellingham came back off of a leadoff strikeout to load the bases on consecutive singles. A wild pitch scored one run, but Clevenger got out of further trouble with a groundout and flyout to end the inning. 

In the eighth, Bellingham threatened again, with runners at the corners and one out, following a 1-2-3 inning for Clevenger. However, again, the righty relaxed and got the next two batters to pop out and strike out, respectively. 

In the ninth, Wenatchee grabbed an insurance run off of the Bells’ Sam Hellinger who hadn’t given up an earned run in 2016 on 20.0 innings pitched, following an inning-opening out. 

It was Toglia’s fourth hit of the night that added an insurance run for Wenatchee. A single through the right side scored Jordan Rathbone, who singled earlier in the inning and stole second. 

Eli Thornquist pitched the bottom of the ninth, and after an easy first two outs, ran into a bit of trouble, loading the bases on a single and back-to-back walks. 

He got the game’s final batter, Austin Shenton, who was 3-for-3 prior to the at bat to ground out to short stop to end the game and secure the series win for the AppleSox. 

With the win, Wenatchee won its first series of the WCL Second Half, and moved three games back of Kelowna in the Division at the time of completion. It also was the AppleSox first divisional road series win of 2016, dating back to July 28-30, 2015. 

Game three and the chance for the season’s first sweep is Monday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., and Luke Mattson will pitch for the AppleSox.