WCL Walla Walla Sweets

Sweets Come Back, But Still Fall Short against Black Bears

Published on June 25, 2015 under West Coast League (WCL)
Walla Walla Sweets News Release


Longview, Wa- The Sweets dropped a heartbreaker in game two of the three game set with the Black Bears of Cowlitz, 6-5. It was a game of resiliency for the Sweets as they came back from down three, but could not deliver the knockout blow.

The scoring started for the second straight night in the first for the Bears. Slate Miller smashed a 1-0 pitch off the centerfield wall in Story Field, but it was above the yellow line and was called a solo home run. Cowlitz would add two more runs in the bottom of the third inning when they rattled off three straight hits. Even though they produced runs, none of the balls came off the bats hard, but they led to RBI, bloop singles from Bown Ogata and Jake Pavletich.

With the Bears leading by three, the Sweets got on the board in the fourth. Parker Coss led off the inning with a double and came around to score a batter later on a sacrifice fly by Clayton Ayers. Then the Sweets would cut the deficit down to one when Kyle Nixon hit an RBI double in the top of the sixth that scored Connor Kopach.

The Bears built on their lead in the bottom of that same inning and they did it without recording a hit. Hank Loforte led off with a walk, stole second, stole third and advanced home as the throw down to third got away from the third baseman Coss. Cowlitz put up another run when Coss threw the ball away on a groundball to him with two outs and Ryan Aguilar came around to score.

The Sweets would then claw their way back into the game,starting when they scored one run in the sixth on a pinch-hit, RBI single by Jon Hechtner. In the top of the seventh, they got two more to tie the game at five a piece on another big pinch-hit single. This time, the hero was Kyle Dixon as he lined a two-out, two-run base hit up the middle.

The Bears came back to get the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth on a RBI sacrifice fly by Aguilar to make it a 6-5 game.

The Sweets did not go down easily in the ninth. The leadoff hitter, David Geary, reached on an infield single and then advanced to second on an error by the third baseman Ogata after a brilliant diving play. Hechtner then tried to lay down a sacrific bunt, but it went right back to the pitcher, Lars Rider, who threw to third to get the lead runner. After Kopach struck out, Coss hit a ground-rule double into left field that hopped over the short fense and into the bullpen. That moved Hechtner on to third base with two outs and Kyle Nixon up at the plate. Rider was able to strike him out to end the ballgame.

The final game of the three game tilt will be played tomorrow at 6:35 before the Sweets go down to Klamath Falls for three games with the Gems.

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West Coast League Stories from June 25, 2015


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