Wenatchee’s 8 Run Inning Keys Series Opening Win Over Bend

Joel Norman AppleSox Media

The Wenatchee AppleSox opened up a long homestand with an 11-6 win over the Bend Elks on Monday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Wenatchee (26-11) scored eight runs in the bottom of the fifth to erase a five-run deficit. Carson Ohland hit his first home run of the summer in the third for the AppleSox’ third home run in the last three days. Jadon Williamson struck out eight over four scoreless innings to close out the game.

The AppleSox snapped their season-high three-game losing streak thanks to matching their single-game high for runs in an inning. That frame was the third time this summer that they scored eight runs in an inning. MJ Sweeney started the inning by reaching on a drag bunt single before another single and two errors plated the first three runs of the game. The AppleSox recorded five consecutive singles with one out to score the final five runs as 12 hitters came to the plate.

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That huge inning flipped the script after a slow start. Ohland’s 375-foot blast put Wenatchee on the board first but the Elks responded with a five-run top of the fourth against three different AppleSox pitchers. They added another run in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead before the AppleSox erased the deficit in the bottom of the inning.

Izzy Lopez hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Brandham Ponce stole home on a double-steal play to take on two insurance runs for the AppleSox and help them snap the Elks’ four-game winning streak.

Ohland, Sweeney, Frankie Carney and Nick Putnam all recorded multi-hit games. Carney became the 30th player in AppleSox history to score 30 runs in a season when he scored in the fifth inning. Putnam reached base in all but one plate appearance by also drawing two walks.

The AppleSox look to win the series as they host the Elks again at 6:35 on Tuesday night.