Wenatchee loses lead in ninth, drops game to Kelowna

WENATCHEE — Kelowna scored four runs in the ninth inning to beat Wenatchee 7-5.

Tyler Nixon hit a two-run double to give the Falcons the lead for good.

Wenatchee led 2-1 through six innings before Kelowna’s bats began to take hold. Dan Pruitt hit a two-run home run to give the Falcons a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning.

The AppleSox responded with three runs in the eighth inning before the Falcons’ ninth-inning comeback.

Wenatchee 6, Kelowna 2 (Saturday)

WENATCHEE — Despite two weather delays, the Wenatchee AppleSox defeated the Kelowna Falcons, 6-2, on Saturday night at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.

Michael Spellacy allowed one unearned run over six innings to pick up the victory in his first appearance with the AppleSox this season. Meanwhile, the Sox bats rallied for a three-run sixth to take a permanent lead.

Spellacy, an incoming sophomore at Gonzaga this fall, joined the team for the second straight season and made an impact immediately. After not making any starts last summer, Spellacy won his first start of 2018 and struck out four.

The Falcons scored first with a double and an error to take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the third. The Sox responded with a run of their own when Joey Magro reached on an error by Kelowna shortstop Matt Voelzke then went to third after two wild pitches. Voelzke committed another error on a ball hit by Mason Marenco and Magro came in to score.

Despite tying the score, the AppleSox still did not record their first base hit until the sixth inning. John Sage hit a one-out single, Jacob Prater walked and then Conner McCord and Cory Meyer hit back-to-back singles to bring in two runs. A wild pitch during Jordan Rathbone’s at-bat brought in McCord to make it 4-1, AppleSox.

In the seventh, the Sox added another run when Isaac Barrera led off with a single and came around to score two batters later on Marenco’s sacrifice fly to centerfield. Kelowna got a run in the eighth, but the Sox got the run back in the bottom half of the inning. Meyer was hit by a pitch, Rathbone singled and Barrera walked to load the bases. During Magro’s at-bat, a passed ball scored Meyer.

Saturday’s game was twice delayed by rain and lightning, first in the bottom of the eighth for 26 minutes, and again in the top of the ninth for 30 minutes.