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WCL Walla Walla Sweets

Pitching, hitting come together in 5-1 win

July 9, 2011 - West Coast League (WCL)
Walla Walla Sweets News Release


Bremerton-- For the second straigt night the Walla Walla Sweets got eight scoreless innings from their starter and this time picked up 15 hits and won consecutive West Coast League games for the first time this summer with a 5-1 victory over the Kitsap BlueJackets on Friday night at the Kitsap Fairgrounds and Special Events Center.

Staked to a 1-0 lead in the first, Tim Culligan made it appear that he was given an eight-run lead. The right-hander was dominant throughout, setting down the first six batters and never looking back. Four of the first eight batters flew out to left before a two-out error in the third gave the BlueJackets their first baserunner of the game. Cole Norton followed with a double to left-center but Culligan snagged a comebacker to end the inning.

He got back to his dominant self in the fourth thanks to a gorgeous play from Kevin Williams at short. Williams ranged up the middle to snag the ground ball behind second and then did a full spin and threw on to first to get the out. The play started a 1-2-3 inning as Culligan allowed only two baserunners over the middle three innings.

Offensively, the Sweets came out swinging for Culligan. Andrew Mendenhall didn't waste anytime extending his hitting streak to 11 as he doubled down the third base line with one out in the first and then moved to third on a ground out. Two batters later, Austin Heaps fell behind early in the count but battled and got a pitch that he turned on and knocked into right field, scoring Mendenhall and giving the Sweets a 1-0 lead.

Walla Walla put two more on in the second against Kitsap starter Blake Golding but could not score and went down 1-2-3 for the only time in the game in the third. Still clinging to a 1-0 lead in the fourth, Williams started things by ripping a double over the right fielder's head. Three pitches later James Campbell sat on a curve ball and smoked it into the left-center gap, scoring Williams from second. Walla Walla did not score again in the fourth but a back-to-back hits by Chance Kopacz and Elliot Stewart in the fifth did lead to the Sweets scoring their third run on a double play ground out from Heaps.

Cruising through six innings, Culligan hit a snag in the seventh. He gave up a one-out double and then loaded the bases with two outs by walking a batter and hitting another. With the tying runs on base, Culligan boar down and struck out Even Potter swinging on a nasty breaking ball. The right-hander completed his night by allowing only a one-out walk in the eighth inning.

The Sweets put the game away in the eighth on the strength of four hits. Heaps started things with an opposite field single, his third hit of the night and Zach Wentz followed with a single to left. An error on a Williams ground ball loaded the bases and Kalani Brackenridge knocked the first pitch he saw into left for a two-run single.

Tyler Billen came on in the ninth and gave up two doubles, the second ending the Sweets bid for a second straight shutout. Wentz, the Borrito batter for the night, led the Sweets with four hits. Heaps and Mendenhall each collected three as part of the Sweets 15-hit attack. The hit total was a season-high as were the four doubles. Over the course of his 11-game hitting streak, Mendenhall has raised his average from .105 to .292. Culligan earned his third win of the summer.

One of Kitsap's top pitchers, Golding gave up three runs on nine hits over five innings. The five-inning outing was the first time the right-hander had not pitched through the seventh inning this summer. Six different BlueJackets had hits and Reed Reilly tossed 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.

Walla Walla and Kitsap continue their three-game series on Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Trent Allianic will start for the Sweets and Richie Mascheri gets the ball for Kitsap looking for his fifth win of the summer.

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West Coast League Stories from July 9, 2011


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