DESPITE DAZZLYING DEFENSE, SOX FALL TO SWEETS

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Curtis Bafus turned in his third quality start of the season, but the Wenatchee AppleSox (11-15) fell to the Walla Walla Sweets, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon at Borleske Stadium.

Bafus (3-3) allowed two runs, one earned, over seven innings and struck out three, but suffered the loss. In all six games that he has pitched this season, Bafus has figured into that games’ decision.

The Sweets scored singular runs in the first and third innings to pick up the series victory and take four of the six meeting with the AppleSox in the season series.

Defensively, the Sox made several impressive defensive plays to thwart further Walla Walla scoring chances. In the fifth inning, with a runner at second, Sox leftfielder Johnny Sage fielded a single to left and threw out the runner at home to end the inning.

The next inning, with runners at the corners the Sweets attempted a suicide squeeze, but popped up the bunt in foul territory. Third baseman Jake Taylor lunged to his left to catch the ball and flipped to shortstop Kody Darcy, who was covering third, to record an inning-ending double play.

In the eighth inning, the Sox had an excellent chance to break up the shutout. They loaded up the bases with no outs, but could not plate any of the runners.

The Sox wrapped up their first half with Sunday’s game and begin second-half play on Tuesday against the first-half North Division Champions, the Bellingham Bells. It will be the first of six consecutive games played against the Bells. The first three will take place at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium in Wenatchee.

Full boxscore: http://pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=445148