GreyWolves Fall Behind Early, Unable to Mount Comeback in 9-1 Defeat
June 25, 2016 - West Coast League (WCL)
Gresham GreyWolves News Release
GRESHAM, Ore. - A 3-for-4 night from center fielder Ryan Smith (Southern Illinois) and nine total hits for the Gresham GreyWolves wasn't enough on Friday, as the Wenatchee AppleSox took the first of three games with Gresham to the tune of a 9-1 win.
An inability to string hits together seemed to do the GreyWolves (6-11) in on this night. While the club did finish the contest with nine hits, all nine of them were singles and they were rarely able to get a runner past second base.
For the third straight night, Gresham did get a fantastic performance out of its bullpen. Relievers Donavon Ramirez (Cal State East Bay) and Kyle Scott (Holy Names) combined to work six innings of work without allowing an earned run after starter Chris Brown (UC Davis) left the game.
Brown (0-2) was credited with the loss for the GreyWolves, while Gonzaga product Justin Blatner (2-0) earned the win for Wenatchee (7-9).
The two teams will return to action on Saturday night for game two of the three game set. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. back at Oslund Field.
Gresham head coach Justin Barchus' post-game thoughts are below:
On the starting pitching as of late:
"Our starters haven't gotten out of the third inning in their last three outings. You're just not going to win many baseball games like that. But those guys have been good all year. They have kept us in games before, so we're not giving up on them by any means."
On trying to rally from early deficits:
"The staff has got to be better. It's tough when your pitchers allow the team to fall behind 5-0 in the third inning. That kind of just takes the steam out of the team."
On the offensive performance:
"We just couldn't put base hits together. We would get two (singles) and hit into a double play, or get two (singles) and strikeout and fly out. The offense is coming along though. Any other night we get nine hits, we maybe score five or six runs."
On his message to the team after the game:
"We need to bounce back tomorrow and mature a little bit. To be honest, it doesn't matter if you lose 9-1 or 9-8 - a loss is a loss. We can still get the series, and that's what is important going forward."
On the big picture:
"Before today we were only four games out of first place. We're 17 games into a 54 game season, we are going to be alright. We have the right guys in place so I think we just need to get it going at the plate and we'll be fine."
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West Coast League Stories from June 25, 2016
- Falcons Take Series - Kelowna Falcons
- Knights Blank Hayesville in Non-League Tilt - Corvallis Knights
- GreyWolves Fall Behind Early, Unable to Mount Comeback in 9-1 Defeat - Gresham GreyWolves
- Bells Outlast Bend - Bellingham Bells
- Otis Statum Powers The Applesox With Two Home Runs - Wenatchee AppleSox
- Sweets Use Pitching Again to Win Fifth Straight - Walla Walla Sweets
- Despite 9th Inning Rally, Pippins Fall 3-2 - Yakima Valley Pippins
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