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WCL Walla Walla Sweets

Sweet Opening Night

June 3, 2011 - West Coast League (WCL)
Walla Walla Sweets News Release


Walla Walla-- The Walla Walla Sweets wanted to start 2011 on a better foot than they began 2010. They accomplished that on Friday night thanks to a six-run third inning and a five-hit shutout from three pitchers in an 8-0 win over the Corvallis Knights on Opening Night presented by Northwestern Mutual.

Walla Walla sent 11 men to the plate in the third, scoring six runs on seven hits and blowing open a game that had featured one combined hit through the first two and a half innings. Those six were more than enough for starter Ryan Richardson. The righty tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just four hits, to earn the win. Daniel Jewett and Drew Fittry combined to finish the shutout, with Jewett striking out four.

It was Hawaii product Kalani Brackenridge that started things for the Sweets in the third. He led off the inning with a single to right field, the first Sweets hit of the night, stole second and then moved to third on an infield ground ball to short in which he beat the throw to third. The speed helped set up the first run as Brackenridge crossed the plate on Alex Bonczyk's ground out. The next six Sweets reached on hits and pushed the lead to 6-0. Nick Gentili had an infield single, Chance Kopacz followed with an opposite field RBI single and Austin Heaps drilled a two-run triple to right center. Not to be outdone by his Utah Valley teammate, Goose Kallunki scored Heaps with an RBI double down the left field line and scored the sixth run of the inning on James Campbell's RBI single to right.

The Sweets added single runs in the fourth, RBI walk by Kallunki, and fifth, RBI single by Bonczyk, and then let their pitching and defense do the rest. Richardson made the play of the night on the last pitch he threw in the fifth. Corey Moore lined the offering right back at Richardson and the right-hander, in self-defense, threw his glove up and caught the ball inches from his face and then tossed on to first to catch the runner off the bag for an inning-ending double play. Jewett took over from there and allowed the first two batters he faced to reach. The lefty settled, struck out the next two batters and ended the threat with a fly out to center. He continued his work in the seventh, striking out the first two batters with a great mix of a changeup and curveball and finished his night by working around a one-out walk in the eighth. Fittry was summoned in the ninth and after two Knights reached via a hit by pitch and error with one out, he struck out the next batter with a gorgeous curveball and got a pop out to short to close out the victory.

Signed to a 10-day contract earlier this week, Bonczyk led the Sweets offensively with three hits and two RBI and also made a sensational sliding catch in the left-center field gap to rob Moore of extra bases. Kopacz and Brackenridge each had two hits, both of Brackenridge's coming in the third and Kallunki and Heaps each drove in a pair of runs.

Corvallis received two hits from Nathan Blackham but only three innings from starter Brian Ranta. The right-hander gave up six runs (one earned) on six hits and struck out two in his short outing. Taylor Hill, the third and final pitcher used by the Knights, tossed two scoreless frames.

The Sweets and Knights continue their three-game series on Saturday night at Borleske Stadium with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. It's Magnet Schedule Giveaway Night at the park and the first 1,000 fans will receive a free 2011 Sweets magnetic calendar. Probable starting pitchers for the game are Walla Walla's Brett Watson and Corvallis' Max Beatty.

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West Coast League Stories from June 3, 2011


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