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WCL Walla Walla Sweets

Sweets Slug Way to Victory

July 11, 2014 - West Coast League (WCL)
Walla Walla Sweets News Release


WENATCHEE, Wa. - Just before embarking on another three-game set with a division rival, the Walla Walla Sweets had a day off to rally the troops.

The attack they unleashed upon the Wenatchee Applesox proved successful in a 16-9 victory Thursday at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Left-hander Mike Paulson got his second start of the season for the Sweets. He was sharp through his first five innings, allowing just two runs, both unearned, in the fourth inning. But the wheels came off in the sixth, when Caleb Wood led off with a single, advancing to second on an error. A strikeout and a flyout gave Paulson two outs to work with, but two singles and another error brought home two more unearned runs, Joe Gillette tripled to drive home two more unearned tallies, and Sam Brown topped off the rally with an RBI single.

But before that effort, the Sweets had already been busy rapidly producing runs. They drew first blood in the first inning, when Andrew Mendenhall hit a two-out, ground rule double and scored on a single by Kyle Nixon.

In the fourth, Cooper Hummel led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Duarte, and after Mark Contreras singled him to third, the two scored on a triple by Parker Osborne. Moments later, the Sweets jumped out to a 5-0 lead when Aldo Ferrante hit a two-run home run to left-center, his third of the season.

After the Applesox scored their two runs in the bottom half, the Sweets got back to work in the fifth. Mendenhall led off with a single and Nixon walked, and both scored when Cooper Hummel's single was misplayed by right fielder A.J. Alcantara, allowing Hummel to reach third. The latter soon scored on a wild pitch to extend the Sweets' lead to 8-2.

Even still, the visitors had not finished. In the top of the sixth, Hummel doubled and Duarte was hit by a pitch, and the former scored on a single by Contreras. Osborne then drove home Duarte and Contreras on his second two-RBI triple of the game, giving the Sweets a nine-run cushion.

A cushion that they would turn out to need, no less- the Applesox supplemented their sixth-inning rally with an additional run in the seventh, via a Caleb Wood solo home run, to make the score 11-8 against reliever Omar Porras.

But the eighth inning brought another Sweets rally. Duarte led off with a home run, Contreras reached on an error and moved to third on an erratic pickoff throw, later scoring on a wild pitch. Osborne walked and Ferrante singled, and the two would eventually score on a fielder's choice and a sacrifice fly, respectively.

Sam Brown tripled with one out in the bottom half, scoring on a single by Trenton Brooks, but the Sweets would immediately answer with a run of their own in the top of the ninth, when Duarte went deep to right-center for his second homer of the game.

"I was just looking for my pitch," said Duarte of his eighth-inning homer. "I got it, and I put good wood on it. It felt nice."

Reflecting on his encore blast in the ninth, he said, "In my at-bat (in the eighth) I got a fastball away, and I knew they were going to challenge me with the fastball away. So I was sitting on that pitch, and (again) I was just trying to put good wood on it to the opposite side of the field. I'm not a big power guy, I just tried to put a good swing on it and stay level and relax."

Right-hander Matt Majors, in his second inning of relief, would pitch a scoreless ninth to end the game and give Walla Walla the 16-9 win.

Overall, the Sweets unleashed a rather evenly-based attack against the Applesox' three pitchers- they scored five against starter Brandon Bailey (1-2) over four innings, six against reliever Colton Loomis in two innings, and the last five while facing Hunter Wells in the final three innings. Paulson (1-0), meanwhile, earned the win for the Sweets, as none of his seven runs allowed were earned and his club maintained the lead throughout the game.

The Sweets and Applesox will play the second game of the series Friday at 7:05 PM at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium in Wenatchee.



West Coast League Stories from July 11, 2014


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