Walla Walla Sweets routed at Wenatchee in 10-1 defeat

WENATCHEE — The host AppleSox produced a pair of five-run rallies — one in the third inning and another in the seventh — and clinched a postseason berth after routing the Walla Walla Sweets, 10-1, in the first game of a three-game West Coast League baseball series on Friday, August 5, before a paid crowd of 1,280 at Paul Thomas Field.

Wenatchee evened its overall record at 26-26 with Friday's victory and knotted the season series with the Sweets at two games apiece. The AppleSox share a North Division-best 14-11 mark with Edmonton in the second half of WCL play.

Friday's loss was Walla Walla's 30th of the season against 22 wins. The Sweets have a second-half record of 10-15 and have lost nine of their last 11 games.

Walla Walla's overall record is good for seventh place in the eight-team South Division. Its second-half mark has it tied for sixth with the Bend Elks. Only division foe Springfield (7-18, 17-35), and North Division representatives Kelowna (8-18, 20-31), Nanaimo (8-18, 20-32), and Port Angeles (9-17, 20-32) have lesser second-half and overall records than the Sweets.

Walla Walla scored its only run of Friday's game in the eighth inning when Nick Seamons smacked a two-out home run on a 1-0 delivery from Wenatchee relief pitcher Hunter Gibson.

The AppleSox collected 10 hits in the game compared with four for the Sweets, who have tallied one run or less in seven of their last 10 games.

The middle game of the series is Saturday at 6:35 p.m.