Sweets keep hopes alive

Walla Walla kept its slim playoff hopes alive with a 4-3 victory over Bellingham on Wednesday. The Sweets will need to keep winning if they want to have a chance to defend their East Division title.

Now for some notes from around the ballpark:
- The Sweets improved to 20-26 with the victory. It is the second consecutive year they have won 20 games.
- Walla Walla is now eight games behind Bellingham with eight games to play. The Sweets need eight wins and eight Bells losses to make the playoffs.
- The Sweets and Bells split the four games that were played in Walla Walla. The two teams close out the season with four games in Bellingham next week.
- Walla Walla now welcomes Kelowna to town for four games. It is the final home series of the season for the Sweets. Kelowna took 3-of-4 from the Sweets in Kelowna in mid-June.
- Joe Arlt earned his third win of the summer on Wednesday, allowing just one run over 7.1 innings. In his last 47.1 innings, Arlt has posted a 1.34 ERA. He is 3-1 over his last 15 appearances and has allowed two runs or more on just one occasion.
- Ben Ruff recorded the final five outs to earn his fourth save. He is third in the league with four saves.
- Shane Zeile had two hits and drove in a run for the Sweets. He has seven hits in his last three games. He has multiple hits in each of his last three as well.
- Ryan Cooper had two hits for the Sweets and scored a run. It was Cooper's first multi-hit game since June 28 against Bend when he went 3-for-4.
- Alex Bonczyk and Kris Paulino each scored a run and now have both scored 20 or more runs this season. Bonczyk leads the team with 21 runs scored.
- Paulino is the only player on the Sweets to have as many walks or more walks than he does strikeouts. He has walked 17 times and struck out 17 times.
- Hunter Virant will start on Thursday. He is 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 31 innings this summer. He has struck out 25 and walked 19. In his last start, he allowed one unearned run in five innings against Wenatchee.
- He allowed one run on one hit in five innings against Kelowna on June 22 in his first start with the Sweets. He walked seven and struck out four.