WCL Walla Walla Sweets

Marathon Ends In 14th, Sweets Fall 8-7

June 28, 2011 - West Coast League (WCL)
Walla Walla Sweets News Release


Kelowna-- Kyle Pearson was waiting for an opportunity to run home from third and finally got it as a pitch got far enough away in the 14th inning to allow him to score from third. He just beat the throw home and in doing so gave the Kelowna Falcons an 8-7 victory over the Walla Walla Sweets at Elks Stadium.

Pearson started the inning with a double to left field and moved to third on a sac bunt. A strikeout had him still standing there but he was desparate to score. As the 1-2 pitch from Sweets reliever Eric Yardley bounced a few feet away from catcher Kevin Hawk, Pearson took his chance and sprinted home, just beating the tag from Yardley and giving the Falcons the win.

Up until then, both bullpens had held. Aaron Hoverson started in the ninth and pitched 3.1 scoreless innings and Yardley had already worked out of two jams in the 12th and 13th. He struck out Jeff Melby with the bases-loaded in the 12th and got out of a runner on third and one out jam in the 13th with a ground out and a fly out.

Brandon Marris was matching them pitch-for-pitch. The right-hander came on in the 11th and allowed just two baserunners the rest of the way, an error in the 11th and a hit batter in the 13th. He struck out four and has now thrown five scoreless innings against the Sweets in two days.

Walla Walla held two leads in the game but had to rally in the ninth to send the game to extras. Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Austin Heaps singled in Elliot Stewart with two outs, an error at first base scored a second run and Andrew Mendenhall made it 4-1 with a two-run double to left-center. The Sweets coughed up the lead, allowing Kelowna to score four in the fourth as well but answered with single runs in the fifth and sixth to take the lead.

Alex Stanford singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Stewart ground out to short. Scott Gottschling matched him in the sixth by starting the inning with a single, stealing second and then scoring on a Hawk single to center.

The Falcons did not go away. With two outs and none on in the seventh they rallied and got a big two-run double from Dillon Bryant to take the lead, 7-6. Facing that margin in the ninth, Stanford ripped a leadoff double down the right field line, moved to third on a Chance Kopacz ground out and scored as Wentz knocked a two-out single through the left side.

Walla Walla has now lost eight-straight heading into Tuesday's series finale. Stanford had three and scored two runs, Gottschling had two hits and Mendenhall the two RBI. Brett Watson started and pitched into the fourth inning before giving way to Jacob Overbay. He gave up three runs on three hits and walked five. Overbay pitched well for the third straight game, allowing three unearned runs over 3.2 innings, while striking out three. Pearson led the Falcons with three hits and three runs scored, Bryant had two hits and two RBI and Ben Swinford had two hits, a run and an RBI. Marris earned his first win of the summer.

After playing for 4:30, the two teams will face each other again on Tuesday in game three of the series. Tim Culligan will get the start for the Sweets.



West Coast League Stories from June 28, 2011


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