Kelowna Falcons

Rally Falls Short

The Falcons fell behind 6-0 in the 1st inning and could not recover in Game 1 of the WCL Championship series, falling 13-8 to the Bend Elks in Kelowna on Saturday night.

The Elks sent 11 men to the plate in the opening inning, pounding out 5 hits and getting help from 2 walks and 2 hit by pitches off starter Nat Hamby.

Kelowna would respond in the bottom half of the opening inning, getting an RBI double from Ben Gamba, an RBI groundout from Wade Gulden, and a Sac Fly from Vinny Esposito.

The Falcons couldn’t carry the momentum to the 2nd inning, as Tyler Davis hit a leadoff home run, and after a hit batter and a single, Spencer Applebach came on to relieve Hamby.

Applebach would allow both inherited runners to score, along with another on a Sac Fly as the Elks held a 10-3 lead.

Kelowna scored 1 in the 2nd after a double from Kyle Plantier, then an error on a double steal allowed him to cross the plate.

The Falcons would make it 10-6 in the 5th inning as Josh Egan came up with a 2-RBI single to score Gulden and Esposito.

West Tunnell hit his first of two homeruns in the 6th inning for the Elks to go up 11-7, before Kelowna got within 3 once more in the bottom half. Gamba had his 2nd double and RBI when he scored Hearn.

Bend added 2 in each of the 8th and 9th innings with Tunnell’s 2nd homer the exclamation point.

Kelowna added a run in the 9th when Plantier scored Esposito.

The Falcons will head down to Bend for Game 2 on Monday night at Vince Genna Stadium. First pitch is 6:35, you can catch all the action on www.kelownafalcons.com with Kyle Anderson starting with a 6:20 pre-game show.

The Kelowna Falcons would like to thank everyone who attended a game at Elks Stadium this season, and cannot wait to see you back here next year.

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