Pippins Walk-Off to Divisional Title
Published on August 7, 2014 under West Coast League (WCL)
Yakima Valley Pippins News Release
YAKIMA, Wash. - A historic inaugural season of Yakima Valley Pippins Baseball received another memorable moment Wednesday night, as the Pippins used a walk-off squeeze bunt in the 9th inning to beat the Cowlitz Black Bears, 7-6, and clinch the West Coast League's East Division crown.
The Pippins (33-18), just days after becoming the winningest first-year team in the WCL, became the second expansion team to make the playoffs in its first year, and the first to get there by way of winning a divisional title.
Cowlitz (22-29) tried to spoil the fun early, scoring three runs in the top of the 1 st inning against starter Mitch Yada. The Pippins, however, answered with a run in the bottom of the 1 st and took the lead with three more in the 2 nd. A Kyle Thomson RBI single pushed the lead to 5-3 after three innings of play.
Cowlitz, however, was not deterred. The Black Bears tied the game with a two-run double from Casey Worden in the 6 th and took the lead on a Johnathon Serven RBI single in the 7 th.
The back-and-forth affair continued into the 8 th, where Justin Jacobs lined a solo home run over the right field wall to tie the game at 6. It was the final hit in a 5-5 night for Jacobs. Alex Guenette also went 4-5 for Yakima Valley in the victory.
After reliever Kenny Rosenberg kept the Black Bears scoreless in the top of the 9 th, the Pippins got a one-out walk from Ryan Yamane in the bottom of the 9 th. Pinch-runner Andrew Castillo moved to 3 rd base on Guentte's fourth single of the night, setting up newcomer Kyle Thomson, who joined the team just two weeks ago. In a 1-1 count, Thomson put down a safety squeeze, scoring Castillo from 3 rd base to seal the win and the divisional title for the Pippins.
Yakima Valley has won 10 straight games and will take a day off Thursday before finishing the regular season in Wenatchee this Friday-Sunday. Bellinhgam and Corvallis have clinched the other two divisions, while the wild card will come down to Bend or Wenatchee. Once the wild card is decided, the Pippins will learn who they will play in the first round of the WCL playoffs. The first round will run Tuesday-Thursday in a best-of-three series.
West Coast League Stories from August 7, 2014
- Sweets Eliminated from Playoff Contention with 9-1 Loss - Walla Walla Sweets
- Pippins Walk-Off to Divisional Title - Yakima Valley Pippins
- Elks Top Knights 3-1 - Bend Elks
- Norris-Jones, Boeke Lead HarbourCats to Sweet Win - Victoria HabourCats
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
