The Kelowna Falcons used a three-run third inning and a five-run sixth inning on the way to a 9-4 win over the Portland Pickles in West Coast League action Sunday at Elks Stadium.
The Falcons, who are now 3-1 in the second half of the season, took two of three games in the series.
FALCONS WIN!!
Taylor Wright and @D_GotHeem52 each homer as the Falcons pick up the series win with a 9-4 victory over @picklesbaseball!#BaseballLivesHere #WCL pic.twitter.com/6pv2cLYMnM
— Kelowna Falcons (@kelownafalcons) July 9, 2018
Grant Suponchick and Taylor Wright each drove in three runs while Davis Todosichuk hit his first career West Coast League home run with Andrew Alvarez and Travis Martizia having very strong outings on the mound as the Falcons picked up their first series win of the second half of the season.
The Pickles were first to get on the board in the 3rd inning of play as Carson Breshears plated a run with an RBI single, the first of his three RBI’s on the night to give the Pickles a 1-0 advantage before the Falcons had a response in the bottom of the inning.
Trent Tinglestad came up with the bases loaded and smashed a two-run RBI double down the right field to give the Falcons the lead and collect his league-leading 26th and 27th RBI’s of the season. Suponchick added an RBI groundout to round out the three-run inning for Kelowna and give them a 3-1 lead after three innings of play.
Portland pressured with a run in the 5th inning before Zander Clarke sent a solo home run to straight away center field for his 7th homer of the season that tied the game 3-3 in the 6th inning before the Falcons had a response, again, and came in the way of a big bottom half of the frame.
Suponchick came through and gave the Falcons their lead back with a two-run double to left center field and compiled his third RBI of the game to give Kelowna a two-run advantage before Taylor Wright made his presence felt, mashing a three-run home run to right field and his 3rd homer of the season completed a five-run frame and gave Kelowna an 8-3 lead.
The 7th inning saw the Pickles earn a run for the third consecutive inning before Davis Todosichuk did something he had not yet done in his three-year, WCL career: hit a home run. Todosichuk got a breaking ball and smashed it over the wall in left field for his 1st career home run in 185 at-bats and gave the Falcons a 9-4 lead in addition to giving everyone in the ballpark something extra to cheer about.
Travis Martizia shut the door on the 8th and the 9th innings to earn his first win of the season and went four innings in relief, allowing just a run while Andrew Alvarez started the game and went six innings, giving up three runs in a solid start. Colin Suter took the loss for the Pickles after relieving starter Nick Sparks, who lasted just three innings allowing three runs.
The Falcons (16-12) welcome the Cowlitz Black Bears (13-16) to town for a three-game mid-week series, beginning on tonight with a 6:35 p.m. start time.
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