The Sweets sure know how to end a homestand. Trailing 4-0 in the sixth against Portland on Tuesday, Walla Walla rallied for single runs in the sixth and seventh and then tied the game with two runs in the eighth. It remained tied until the 11th inning when James Campbell ripped a bases-loaded walk-off single to left-center.
W2 capped their eight-game homestand with a 4-4 record and starts a six-game road trip tonight in Corvallis. The Sweets took to the road at 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Cor-Vegas at 1:30 p.m. today. Tonight's 6:40 p.m. first pitch will start the first game of a three-game series between the Sweets and Knights.
Notes:
Walla Walla- 5-7
- Walla Walla has dropped three straight WCL games and has yet to win two straight league games.
- On the road, the Sweets are 1-2, losing a three-game series to Cowlitz two weekends ago.
- It is the second meeting of the season between the two teams, the Sweets winning two-of-three to start the season.
- Aaron Hoverson will make his first start this summer after coming out of the bullpen on three different occasions. At Winona St., 9 of his 13 appearances were starts.
- In that three-game series, the Sweets shutout the Knights twice, 8-0 and 1-0.
- Walla Walla dropped two-of-three at Goss Stadium at the end of last season. Overall, the Sweets are 4-5 against the Knights.
- Alex Stanford has hit in six-straight overall, four straight in WCL play. Chance Kopacz has the longest streak of the summer at 7.
Corvallis- 7-7
- The Knights won four straight games last week but have lost their last two against Wenatchee.
- Corvallis swept Bellingham and then took game one from the Applesox. That win snapped Wenatchee's 14-game win streak.
- Since opening weekend, the Knights have gone 6-5, while the Sweets have gone 3-6.
- Corvallis, known for their slow starts, welcomed their full roster six games ago and is 4-2 in those games.
- Starter Dylan Stuart made 18 appearances this spring for UC-Riverside and is making his debut tonight.
- The Knights play at Goss Stadium, the home field of the Oregon State Beavers.
An (almost) day-to-day recap of starting a West Coast League baseball team in Walla Walla. Starting from the ground up...literally. Started in 2009, lucky season #7 has first pitch on June 3, 2016. The time has flown...
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Bad Apples, Sweets Swept
The three-game series against Wenatchee didn't go the way the Sweets hoped it would. A 15-2 debacle began the series and then Wenatchee's pitching dominated the rest of the weekend. The three losses dropped the Sweets to 5-7 overall and 7-7 overall on the season. It also dropped the Sweets to 2-4 on their current eight-game homestand.
Tim Culligan pitched very well in defeat, striking out seven over five innings and gave up three runs. He was placing his fastball very well and working in a good breaking pitch. He was looking for his third win of the summer but fell to 2-1.
Culligan's opponent was Alex Phillips, a teammate last year at Lower Columbia. The two combined to go 17-2 last year, helping the Red Devils win the NWAACC.
Tonight, the Sweets will start a two-game series against the Portland Stars. The two games will be non-league games but still are a great opportunity for players to get at-bats and pitchers to get innings. It's also Sweet Lou Bobblehead night at the ballpark. I have mine and it's amazing!
Tim Culligan pitched very well in defeat, striking out seven over five innings and gave up three runs. He was placing his fastball very well and working in a good breaking pitch. He was looking for his third win of the summer but fell to 2-1.
Culligan's opponent was Alex Phillips, a teammate last year at Lower Columbia. The two combined to go 17-2 last year, helping the Red Devils win the NWAACC.
Tonight, the Sweets will start a two-game series against the Portland Stars. The two games will be non-league games but still are a great opportunity for players to get at-bats and pitchers to get innings. It's also Sweet Lou Bobblehead night at the ballpark. I have mine and it's amazing!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
That was quick...
The Walla Walla Sweets and Wenatchee Applesox must have known that the rain was coming. W2 and Wenatchee played a crisp 1:55 game that ended with the Applesox winning 4-1 and a torrential downpour minutes after the final out had been recorded.
It marked the first time this season the Sweets had dropped two straight games and also dropped them below .500 on the season. The two teams will meet again today, wrapping up their three-game series on Father's Day with a 6:05 p.m. start.
Let's take a look at what we can expect from the series-finale after the break...
It marked the first time this season the Sweets had dropped two straight games and also dropped them below .500 on the season. The two teams will meet again today, wrapping up their three-game series on Father's Day with a 6:05 p.m. start.
Let's take a look at what we can expect from the series-finale after the break...
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Yowzers!
I think the title does a good job explaining what happened on Friday night. The Wenatchee Applesox came to town with an 11-game winning streak and showed us why. They scored 15 runs on 17 hits, played error-free baseball and allowed just three hits in a 15-2 win.
The great thing about baseball is that was yesterday and today is today, a brand new day for the Sweets to perform and compete.
More after the break:
The great thing about baseball is that was yesterday and today is today, a brand new day for the Sweets to perform and compete.
More after the break:
Friday, June 17, 2011
New Plan, Same Sweets
By Tristan Hobbes
In order to use this blog to its full effectiveness, I (Tristan Hobbes) am going to use it as a place to post game notes, post-game thoughts, road trip musings and anything else related to the Sweets.
We'll start off our new found drive with a look at tonight's game against the Wenatchee Applesox...
Notes and Notables
- The Sweets and Applesox are beginning a three-game weekend series tonight at Borleske Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
For Walla Walla:
- Walla Walla scored a season-high 10 runs on a season-high 13 hits against Klamath Falls on Thursday.
- Elliot Stewart homered twice and drove in four runs for the Sweets and Chance Kopacz extended his hitting streak to six game and his on-base streak to nine.
- Kopacz is hitting a team-high .353 and has driven in a team-high 8 runs.
- The Sweets are still struggling against lefties, hitting just .203 (30-148). In contrast, W2 is hitting .246 (35-142) against right-handers.
- Walla Walla is off to a 6-2 start at home this season. The Sweets went just 10-15 at home last summer.
- The Sweets have won five of their first nine games, they didn't win their fifth game until June 28 last summer; 16 games into the season.
For Wenatchee:
- The Applesox have won 11-straight games and are the reigning West Coast League champs.
- Applesox pitchers have thrown four shutouts so far and have the 2nd-best ERA in the league at 2.23.
- Wenatchee also leads the league in batting average, hitting .297 as a team.
- Breland Almadova is hitting .452 and Aaron DeGuire .444 with two home runs and eight RBI.
- Friday's starter Mike Murray is 3-0 in four relief appearances and has a 1.04 ERA over 8.2 innings.
- Erik Munzer has a team-high 16 hits and six doubles.
- Brock Gates leads the team with 10 RBI.
In order to use this blog to its full effectiveness, I (Tristan Hobbes) am going to use it as a place to post game notes, post-game thoughts, road trip musings and anything else related to the Sweets.
We'll start off our new found drive with a look at tonight's game against the Wenatchee Applesox...
Notes and Notables
- The Sweets and Applesox are beginning a three-game weekend series tonight at Borleske Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
For Walla Walla:
- Walla Walla scored a season-high 10 runs on a season-high 13 hits against Klamath Falls on Thursday.
- Elliot Stewart homered twice and drove in four runs for the Sweets and Chance Kopacz extended his hitting streak to six game and his on-base streak to nine.
- Kopacz is hitting a team-high .353 and has driven in a team-high 8 runs.
- The Sweets are still struggling against lefties, hitting just .203 (30-148). In contrast, W2 is hitting .246 (35-142) against right-handers.
- Walla Walla is off to a 6-2 start at home this season. The Sweets went just 10-15 at home last summer.
- The Sweets have won five of their first nine games, they didn't win their fifth game until June 28 last summer; 16 games into the season.
For Wenatchee:
- The Applesox have won 11-straight games and are the reigning West Coast League champs.
- Applesox pitchers have thrown four shutouts so far and have the 2nd-best ERA in the league at 2.23.
- Wenatchee also leads the league in batting average, hitting .297 as a team.
- Breland Almadova is hitting .452 and Aaron DeGuire .444 with two home runs and eight RBI.
- Friday's starter Mike Murray is 3-0 in four relief appearances and has a 1.04 ERA over 8.2 innings.
- Erik Munzer has a team-high 16 hits and six doubles.
- Brock Gates leads the team with 10 RBI.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Opening Weekend a Success
Tristan Hobbes
The Walla Walla Sweets have not only arrived but they've gotten off to a 3-1 start since the last time we talked! The team thrilled 1,748 fans on Opening Night with an 8-0 win over West Coast League power Corvallis and finished the weekend off with an ninth inning walk-off win against the Knights. The two shutouts highlighted an opening weekend in which the Sweets pitching staff did not give up an earned run.
The players are getting used to their surroundings and they are getting used to sporting all their new Sweets gear. The team showed off their new jersey on Sunday night and made it special with the 1-0 victory. The new uniform is an 80's style red t-shirt kind of uniform that has Sweet Lou on the front chest and their number on the back.
W2 continued their success on Tuesday night with an exciting, 6-4 comeback victory over the Portland Toros, scoring three runs in the eighth. Beyond the wins and losses, the Sweets have been ecstatic with the turnout at Borleske Stadium. The fans have clearly not forgotten about us over the course of a year and with over 1,300 fans at each of the first four games, it looks to be another great year in Walla Walla.
The Sweets complete their season-opening five-game homestand tonight (Wednesday) against Portland and head to Cowlitz on Friday for their first road trip of the season. If you haven't, be sure to get out to the ballpark or follow the Sweets online at www.wallawallasweets.com!
The Walla Walla Sweets have not only arrived but they've gotten off to a 3-1 start since the last time we talked! The team thrilled 1,748 fans on Opening Night with an 8-0 win over West Coast League power Corvallis and finished the weekend off with an ninth inning walk-off win against the Knights. The two shutouts highlighted an opening weekend in which the Sweets pitching staff did not give up an earned run.
The players are getting used to their surroundings and they are getting used to sporting all their new Sweets gear. The team showed off their new jersey on Sunday night and made it special with the 1-0 victory. The new uniform is an 80's style red t-shirt kind of uniform that has Sweet Lou on the front chest and their number on the back.
W2 continued their success on Tuesday night with an exciting, 6-4 comeback victory over the Portland Toros, scoring three runs in the eighth. Beyond the wins and losses, the Sweets have been ecstatic with the turnout at Borleske Stadium. The fans have clearly not forgotten about us over the course of a year and with over 1,300 fans at each of the first four games, it looks to be another great year in Walla Walla.
The Sweets complete their season-opening five-game homestand tonight (Wednesday) against Portland and head to Cowlitz on Friday for their first road trip of the season. If you haven't, be sure to get out to the ballpark or follow the Sweets online at www.wallawallasweets.com!
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