Roberts dominant as Sweets beat Bend

Tyler Roberts was perfect through the first five innings and the Sweets broke a scoreless tie with five late runs on their way to a 5-1 victory over Bend on Thursday. The Sweets have now won back-to-back series for the first time this season.

Now some notes from around the ballpark:
- Tyler Roberts set down the first 15 Elks in order before Parker Guinn reached on an infield single to lead off the sixth. Roberts eventually left Guinn at third with a strikeout.
- Of the first 15 outs, seven were ground balls to Shane Zeile at third, four were strikeouts, two were fly outs and two were ground balls to the right side.
- Roberts would go seven innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out five. It was his longest outing of the season and he picked up his first win.
- The Sweets got on the board in the fifth with a pair of two-out hits from Kalani Brackenridge and Ryan Cooper. Brackenridge singled to start the rally and Cooper followed with a double to left-center to score him.
- Walla Walla then added to the lead in the sixth as they loaded the bases with no outs. Ben Ruff knocked a single up the middle to score one but the Sweets then hit into an inning-ending double play.
- Bend scored its only run in the seventh on a single from Grant Newton. It nearly scored two but Spencer O'Neil fired home and Jarrod Turner applied the tag on Steven Halcomb just before Halcomb crossed the plate. Video review showed that Halcomb's foot actually popped up before hitting the plate to allow Turner to apply the tag.
- The Sweets put the game away in the seventh with three runs. O'Neil was hit with the bases loaded to score a run and Nick Vilter added a two-run single to make it 5-1.
- O'Neil has now been on base in 11-straight games. He was hit three times on Thursday and now leads the league with 10. In his last nine WCL games, O'Neil has scored eight runs and driven in eight.
- Cooper batted leadoff for the first time this season and picked up three hits. His single in the third extended his hitting streak to eight games.
- Brackenridge reached base three times with two walks and a single and scored two runs.
- Shane Zeile was on base twice with a single and a walk and he also scored twice.
- Kevin Hawk saw game action for the first time since June 11 when he came on in the eighth on Thursday. Hawk has missed the last two and a half weeks with a knee injury.
- Joe Arlt tossed a scoreless eighth inning on Thursday and has allowed just one run over his last 12.1 innings. He has struck out 14 and walked just four in his last four appearances.
- The Sweets pitching staff allowed just four runs on just 15 hits in the three-game series against Bend.
- The Sweets have hit into 13 double plays in the last 10 games.
- The Sweets are in the middle of the pack as far as batting average and fielding percentage go in the WCL. Their .260 average is fifth and their .963 fielding percentage is also fifth.
- In nine home dates, the Sweets have drawn 11,412 fans for an average of 1,268. That is second in the league behind Bend.
- The Sweets open a mini two-game series against Bellingham on Friday. It will be the first of two two-game series between the two teams. Bellingham will come back for two more games at the end of July. The Sweets will then end their season with a four-game series in Bellingham.
- Walla Walla edged out the Bells last season for the second and final playoff spot in the East Division.