The Kelowna Falcons are forced to come from behind in the West Coast League championship series.
The Corvallis Knights defeated the Falcons 17-6 Tuesday night at Elks Stadium to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three series.
Games 2 is set for Corvallis on Thursday, with a third game if needed to be played Friday.
The Falcons will play with their season on the line on Thursday night in Corvallis as they fall by a 17-6 score in Game #1 of the WCL Championship Series to the @CorvKnights #BaseballLivesHere #WCL pic.twitter.com/Saf76a6ywO
— Kelowna Falcons (@kelownafalcons) August 15, 2018
Trace Tammaro had a big night with a three-run home run and five RBI’s while the Knights slugged 13 runs on 20 hits en route to a Game # victory in their attempt to become three-peat champions of the West Coast League.
The Knights started the game on a tear, bringing 14 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs to open up the WCL Final, beginning with a double by Adam Stevens.
Austin Feist brought home the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly before a two-run single off the bat of Zak Taylor put Corvallis ahead 3-0. Beau Philip added an RBI single before Trace Tammaro had the big hit of the inning, a three-run home run to center field to extend the lead to 7-0 before an RBI single from Chandler Anderson gave Corvallis an 8-0 lead after the first half inning of play.
Kelowna responded with a run in the bottom half coming from the reigning WCL Player of the Week in Dan Pruitt with an RBI single to make it an 8-1 Corvallis lead after an inning.
The Knights brought in another run in the top half of the 2nd frame before the Falcons answered again in the way of an RBI knock to cut the Corvallis lead to 9-2 in the game.
For the third straight inning, Corvallis plated a run as Zak Taylor laced a two-out double to right center field put the Knights into double digits with a 10-2 advantage.
Kelowna pitching kept Corvallis off the board in the 4th before another run came in the 5th frame on an RBI single from Anderson pushed the Knights lead to 11-2 after five innings of play.
Two more Knights run came in to score in the 6th inning on RBI singles from Philip and Stevens to jump ahead by a 13-2 score before the Falcons chipped away at the lead.
Taylor Wright collected an RBI single in the 6th before Jake Fischer cashed in a run with a base hit and cut the Knights lead to 13-4 after seven innings of play.
Kelowna continued to chip away with a two run 8th inning, stemming from RBI singles off the bats of Wright and Garret Kelly to cut the Corvallis lead to 13-6 after eight innings.
Corvallis brought nine batters to the plate in the 9th inning and scored four runs, two of which were from a Tammaro two-run single to push the Knights lead to 17-6, the eventual final.
Isaac Olson took the loss for Kelowna, pitching in 0.1 innings, allowing seven runs (six of them earned) as the starter for the Falcons while Knights starter Kolby Somers picked up the win, going five innings while allowing two runs on eight hits.
The Falcons will look to keep their season alive as they make their south to take on the Corvallis Knights slay Goss Stadium in Corvallis for Game 2 of the WCL Championship Series. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 16 with the game being broadcast live on the Falcons Broadcast Network with the voice of the Falcons, Trevor Miller.
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