PRATER'S BIG NIGHT LEADS TO APPLESOX VICTORY

Behind a four-RBI game from Jacob Prater, the Wenatchee AppleSox (12-15, 1-0 second half) defeated the Bellingham Bells, 6-2, on Tuesday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Hunter Boyd picked up his second consecutive win in as many starts by allowing two runs, one earned, in six innings. Boyd finished a strikeout shy of matching his season-high of eight.

Alec Gomez returned to the team and tossed the final three innings to pick up his first save of the season. Using a curveball and an added changeup, Gomez struck out five of the 12 batters that he faced.

In the first inning, both teams traded runs. The Bells cashed in with a singular run on two errors to take the initial lead.

However, the Sox struck back in the bottom half. With two outs, Johnny Sage and Connor McCord both walked and Prater plated both with a three-run shot. Prater’s first dinger of the season was also the Sox’ second three-run home run of the season.

A sacrifice fly in the top of the second with the bases loaded drew the Bells a bit closer. However, with the Sox up 3-2, Boyd minimized the threat and didn’t allow any other runs to score.

The scoring wouldn’t stop there though. After J.T. Schwartz singled and stole second, he moved to third on an infield single by Isaac Barrera. Schwartz and Barrera teamed up to give the AppleSox a 4-2 lead by a executing a double steal.

The Sox added two more runs in the third inning on back-to-back RBI singles. After Sage reached on a two-base error, Prater drove in his fourth run of the game with a drag-bunt single. On the throw to home, Prater went to second and he scored on Cory Meyer’s RBI single, his team-high 16th RBI of the season.

The Bells and the AppleSox battle again on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. Grady Millers tosses for the Sox against Wesley Moore in the second game of the three-game set.    

Full boxscore: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=445038