Kelowna shatters playoff hopes

Kelowna shattered the Sweets' playoff hopes on Thursday as they grabbed a 5-4 victory at Borleske Stadium. The loss mathematically eliminated the Sweets from playoff contention.

Now for some notes from around the ballpark:
- The Sweets are now 20-27 on the season and need to win their final seven games in order to post the first .500 season in franchise history.
- Tyler Qualls's two-run home run in the ninth was the deciding hit in Thursday's contest. It hit the fair pole in right field. Six inches more and it would have been a long strike.
- The Sweets trailed, 3-0, heading into the bottom of the seventh but rallied with four runs.
- Ben Ruff scored the first run with a double to left. He has four doubles, three triples and a home run this season.
- Kris Paulino followed by greeting reliever Cale Coshow with a monstrous three-run home run to right-center to make it 4-3. It was Paulino's first home run of the summer and came on the first pitch.
- Paulino has now scored 21 runs and driven in 14. He had three doubles, three triples and a home run. He also leads the team with 17 walks.
- Shane Zeile had two hits and has collected multiple hits in four consecutive games. He is hitting a team-leading .324.
- Hunter Virant started for the Sweets and allowed one run on three hits over five innings. He walked four and struck out six.
- Virant has allowed two runs or less in every start he has made this summer. In 36 innings, he's allowed just 16 hits.
- Sweets pitchers have struck out 303 batters this summer, good enough for fourth in the league. They are one of just four teams to have struck out at least 300 batters this summer.
- Connor Lawhead registered his second scoreless outing, pitching a scoreless eighth on Thursday.
- Paulino's home run was the 20th for the Sweets this summer. A check for 2,400 was presented by Wildhorse Resort and Casino to CASA in the seventh for Home Runs for Charity. The total could change depending on how many home runs the Sweets hit the remainder of the summer.
- Zach Brandon will start on Friday night and is in search of his first victory of the summer. He allowed one run on six hits over 4.2 innings of relief against Wenatchee on July 25.
- The Sweets have now lost a league-high six games when leading after the seventh or eighth inning.