Sweets win on Sweet Lou's night

Fans took my advice and arrived at the ballpark early last night to make sure that they were one of the 1,000 fans that would receive a Sweet Lou Bobblehead.  They weren't disappointed with the product.  With every head bobble, Sweet Lou brought the Sweets luck on Monday night, enough for Walla Walla to snap a three-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory.

Three pitchers were largely to thank for the victory.  Drew Fittry made his first start of the summer and lasted 4.1 innings before giving the ball to Ryan Richardson with two runners on in the fifth.  Like he has done all summer, the right-hander pitched great.  He allowed four hits over 2.2 innings of relief and struck out three.  Sean Santschi closed the door with two scoreless innings.

Monday's win was a great example of what it will take for the Sweets to win over the course of the summer; strong pitching, solid defense and a scrappy offense output.  The Sweets got the pitching, made just one defensive error and collected ten hits, albeit against a non-league team.  But the game of baseball is about consistency and repetition and that counts in non-league games as much as league games.

Some notes for Tuesday:
- The Sweets wrap up an eight-game homestand and a stretch of 16 games that included 13 home games to start the season.  Starting Thursday, the Sweets will play 15 of their next 18 games away from Borleske Stadium.
- Monday's win was the seventh at home this season and the Sweets are just three-shy of tying last year's home wins of ten.
- Alex Stanford hit his second home run of the summer and extended his home hitting streak to ten games.
- Geoff Soja will make his first start of the summer on Tuesday and makes it back-to-back days that a Purple Eagle will take the hill. 
- Walla Walla is 3-0 against Portland teams this summer after going 3-1 last year.  They will face the Lobos to finish an eight-game homestand in mid-July.
- Doug Christie arrived this afternoon and completes the 2011 Sweets roster.