Pippins Drop Seventh-Straight Road Matchup
July 6, 2024 - West Coast League (WCL)
Yakima Valley Pippins News Release
BEND, Oregon - Yakima Valley was not able to qualm the road troubles in the first matchup with the Elks on Friday night. The Pipps dropped their seventh straight road game, 19-8, at Vince Genna Stadium.
It was the most runs allowed in a game this year by the Pippins.
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Bend jumped out to a 10-0 lead after the first three innings. Quentin O'Connor's fifth start of the season started out OK, but a nine-run third frame by the Elks sent the Whitworth pitcher to the dugout.
A few RBI base knocks from the likes of Ty Silva and Vinny Salvione highlighted the monstrous inning by Bend. Yakima Valley trailed by 10 runs heading into the fifth. That's when the scoring began.
Dominic Longo found his first hit of the season, and it brought in Casey Wayne to make it 10-1. He was followed by Adrian Hinojosa, who reached on a fielder's choice. That allowed Owen Egan to score to cut the deficit to eight runs.
However, Bend refused to shut the power off offensively. Another huge inning burst out against Pippins reliever Logan Smith. The Tacoma pitcher was the third arm of the game and allowed seven earned runs in just one inning pitched.
RBI doubles from Ty Johnsen and Ty Silva highlighted another dominant showing at the plate for the Elks. It was 17-2 after the fifth inning.
Yakima Valley was able to get the offense up and running in the final few frames. Three came across in the seventh, as David Ballenilla reached on an RBI single to bring in Wayne once again. Then, Drew Johnson smacked a sacrifice fly to right field to send Egan across for the second time. It was 17-5 after Julian Angulo drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Ballenilla.
The Pipps piled on with another three-run inning in the eighth. They cut the deficit to nine, as Egan belted an RBI triple to help move Wayne around the base path for the third time of the game. Ballenilla had an RBI ground out, and Preston Allen drew a walk with the bases loaded. Bend led 17-8 into the bottom of the inning.
The Elks responded with two runs of their own to finish the scoring for the night. Mauricio Guardado made his pitching debut in the bottom of the eighth, and Kaleb Karpstein hit a triple to begin the offense for Bend. After that, Devin Carter reached on a single, and Karpstein came in to score.
The final run came from Carter, as John Elliot hit an RBI single and made it 19-8. Bend had scored a season-best run total in the game as they took down the Pipps for their first loss of the back half of the summer.
Offensively, Egan impressed once again. He finished with a 3-for-4 effort and scored three of the eight runs for the Pipps. All five of Yakima Valley's hits came from the bottom three hitters in the lineup. Longo went 1-for-4 and Ballenilla finished the game 1-for-2 with two walks.
Johnson lost out on reaching an 11-game hit streak, and Preston Allen finished hitless as well. He enters Game 2 just one hit shy of 40 on the season. Bend dominated offensively and finished with 23 hits.
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