Elks fall 6-5 in extras
Published on August 5, 2011 under West Coast League (WCL)
Bend Elks News Release
In what was a crazy game on Thursday night that featured a thirty two minute rain delay and extra innings, the Elks had runners on first and second in the bottom of the tenth when Walla Walla Sweets closer Simon Anderson struck out Michael Benjamin on the 8th pitch of the at bat, sending the Elks home the hard luck losers by a score of 6-5.
The game got off to a slow start as the only rain cloud in the state of Oregon decided to visit Bend Thursday evening, causing a 32 minute rain delay in the middle of the second, but that didn't seem to affect the starting pitchers. Both were good throughout the night, as the first runs didn't come until the third inning.
In the third, Walla Walla took a 1-0 lead as Alex Stanford had a 2 out RBI double to score Brendan Allan off Elks starter Josh McAlister. The Elks responded with two in the bottom half of the inning as four singles in 5 hitters led to RBI's for both Jordan Brower and Ryan Dunn who scored Stetson Olson and Tyler Christian respectively, giving the Elks a 2-1 lead.
Both teams would score again in the sixth inning as the Sweets scored two more runs with two outs as Kevin Hawk had an RBI single and Denver Chavez had an RBI double off of reliever Cameron Cuneo, giving the Sweets a 3-2 lead. Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Elks had four hits in the inning as Cullen Hendrickson had an RBI double, Nick Wagner had an RBI single, and Royce Bollinger had a Sac Fly to help the Elks take a 5-3 lead.
Then in the eighth, Walla Walla once again got clutch base hits from Denver Chavez and Alex Stanford, who had an RBI double and single respectively, and the Sweets tied the game at 5 off of reliever Taylor Chris. In the bottom of the 9th, the Elks managed to get runners on second and third with two outs, but Toby DeMello struck out on a full count pitch that likely would have been ball 4, but instead would send the game into extras.
In the top of the 10th, Austin Heaps led off the inning with a single, pinch runner James Campbell was sacrificed over to second, and Chance Kopacz came up with a big RBI double off Elks reliever Jeff Brigham (2-1), scoring Campbell and giving the Sweets a 6-5 lead.
Then in the bottom of the inning, Nick Wagner and Royce Bollinger delivered back to back singles to put runners on first and second with one out. After Stetson Olson flew out to right field for the second out of the inning, Michael Benjamin came to the plate and battled, finally striking out on the ninth pitch of the at bat against Sweets closer Simon Anderson, and the Elks fell by the 6-5 final.
The Elks (28-23) now hold just a ½ game lead over the Cowlitz Black Bears for the final playoff spot as they head to Klamath Falls to conclude their regular season, first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.
West Coast League Stories from August 5, 2011
- A-Sox Start Last Regular Season Home Series - Wenatchee AppleSox
- Extra, Extra; Sweets win 6-5 in 10 - Walla Walla Sweets
- Falcons drop finale - Kelowna Falcons
- Elks fall 6-5 in extras - Bend Elks
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