Wenatchee drops game one to the Sweets

With eight straight series wins locked up, the AppleSox rolled down to Walla Walla looking to win game one of the series. However, the Sweets managed to edge out Wenatchee 4-3 in the opening game.

The matchup was a pitching duel up until the fourth when Walla Walla tallied two runs off an error from Wenatchee’s James Castagnola. Starting left-hander Joe Thornton finished the day with only two runs given up, five hits, five strikeouts, and four walks through four innings pitched​.

Meanwhile, Walla Walla’s Charles Rogers III spun four innings of scoreless baseball off only two hits and three strikeouts.

Down by two, the ‘Sox were not about to go out with a whimper. They waited until the seventh to wake up the bats, when Joseph Coupland launched his second home run in as many days. His long ball sparked the rest of the offense, prompting Colin Beazizo to drive home a run off an RBI single to right field.

The Sweets snatched those back right away, when Landon Young tripled to deep left-center in the bottom of the seventh to regain the 4-2 lead. Then, freshman Kainoa Santiago climbed to the plate in the eighth and delivered an opposite-field lead-off home run to put the ‘Sox within one run.

With the stage set for the comeback, Wenatchee was 90 feet away from tying the game. The ‘Sox got runners on the corners with two outs and were down to their last strike. Santiago battled to stay alive, but inevitably watched a painted slider on the outside edge for strike three that ended the ball game.

After getting punched in the mouth in game one, the ‘Sox look to bounce back tomorrow. First pitch is 7:15 p.m at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla.