Casazza sets home run record

KELOWNA, British Columbia — Chris Casazza broke the West Coast League’s single-season home run record in the fourth inning and the Pirates won their second consecutive game of the season with a 5-4 win over the Kelowna Falcons.

Casazza, Moses Lake’s starting shortstop, hit his record-breaking seventh home run of the season on the first pitch he saw from Matt Prescott to lead off the fourth.

Casazza’s blast was his second of Moses Lake’s current rode trip.

The Pirates found themselves in an early 1-0 hole when the Falcons capitalized on an error from left fielder Jye Lanphere.

Lanphere chased down a deep fly ball in the bottom of the first before the ball hit off the heel of his glove, falling to the ground, giving Kelowna a 1-0 advantage.

Moses Lake stormed back in the top of the second inning when Casazza bunt-singled to lead off.

Pirates catcher Brent Trask then hit a sharp ground ball for Moses Lake, forcing a Kelowna error on the play. Casazza scored on the error to tie the game 1-1.

With the game tied, Lanphere made up for his error with a base hit.

Trask scored on Lanphere’s single and the Pirates took the 2-1 lead.

Moses Lake head coach Steve Keller said Lanphere performed well at the plate Tuesday night.

“Jye Lanphere really helped us out tonight,” he said.

Moses Lake added to their lead in the top of the fourth with Casazza’s home run, but the Falcons closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning.

The Pirates were unable to add to their lead in the top of the fifth and the Falcons reclaimed the advantage in the home-half of the inning.

The Falcons loaded the bases on Moses Lake starting pitcher Kacy Gardiner and Kelowna pushed a pair of runs across the plate in the fifth for a 4-3 lead.

Moses Lake reclaimed the advantage in the top of the sixth inning when Lanphere recorded his second and third RBIs of the contest with a two-out, two-run double for a 5-4 Pirates lead.

The Pirates managed to hold on to the victory thanks to solid relief performances from pitchers Brett Swett, Andy Greenslit and Tony Smith. Swett gave up just three hits in three innings of work and Greenslit slammed the door on the Falcons in the eighth.

Smith came out to pitch the ninth for the Pirates to record his second save of the season.

Moses Lake improved to 8-31 with the win over Kelowna.

Moses Lake has been eliminated from postseason contention, but Keller said his team remains focused.

“It’s nice to see the guys still show up at the ball park ready to play,” he said. “We are in a position to spoil. We don’t have a lot of pressure on us to do anything but play baseball. It feels good to take some games from some people.” 

The Pirates return to the diamond tonight when they take on the Falcons in the second game of their three game series. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.