Sweets escape again

The Sweets have picked the perfect time to play some of their best baseball of the season. Needing a win, the Sweets jumped out to a 3-1 lead and then hung on to earn a 3-2 victory over Wenatchee on Thursday night.

Now for some notes from around the ballpark:
- The Sweets improved to 18-24 with the victory and are 4-2 against Wenatchee this summer. Walla Walla remains 8.5 games behind Bellingham for second place and 9.5 games behind Wenatchee for first place in the East.
- Since dropping five of the first six meetings against Wenatchee last summer, the Sweets have gone 8-3 in the last 11 games.
- Ben Ruff came on with the bases loaded in the ninth inning and induced a game-ending 6-4-3 DP. Ruff's third save came a night after he earned his second win.
- Team's are hitting just .220 against Ruff with runners in scoring position. It lowers to .167 with two outs.
- Arturo Reyes started for the Sweets and lasted five innings. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out three. He has allowed one run or less in all but one start this summer. Reyes earned his fourth win of the summer.
- Reyes's numbers are even better with runners in scoring position as he has limited opponents to a .127 average with men in scoring position. It drops to a measly .111 with two outs.
- Joe Arlt tossed three innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit. He worked out a 2nd and 3rd jam in the sixth, getting a pop out and a strikeout.
- Brett Jacobs provided a majority of the offense, driving in two runs with a pair of two-out hits. He doubled home Alex Bonczyk in the third to break a 1-1 tie and then scored Bonczyk with a single to make it 3-1 in the fifth.
- Jacobs now has four hits and three RBI in his last two contests and is hitting .316 with runners in scoring position and two outs. He's also third in the league with 10 doubles.
- Bonczyk scored twice on Thursday and now leads the team with 19 runs scored on the season.
- Kalani Brackenridge hit his first triple of the year and scored the tying run in the third.
- The Sweets have hit 14 triples as a team, one shy of the league record set by Bend in 2010.
- Nick Vilter had two hits on Thursday, registering his multi-hit game since recording back-to-back three-hit games against Wenatchee in early July.
- The Sweets are tied for the league-lead in doubles with 64 and lead the league in triples with 14. They are third in the league with home runs (15).
- Hunter Virant will start on Friday for the Sweets. He is 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA. He has lost his last two decisions.