Pickling Portland
- Updated: July 8, 2018
The Kelowna Falcons used a three-run 3rd inning and a five-run 6th inning to help them to a series win and a 9-4 victory over the Portland Pickles on Sunday night at Elks Stadium.
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, a span of 92 games, and gave the Falcons a 9-4 lead in addition to giving everyone in the ballpark something extra to cheer about.
“It felt good, I got behind in the count early on but put a couple of good swings and fouled some pitches off,” stated the Falcons outfielder Todosichuk, “He gave me a changeup and I was able to get the barrel on it and send it out to left.”
“He’s one of those guys you want on your bench every day and does everything you ask of him without a word,” commented Falcons pitching coach Steve Dennison, “The guys were jacked up on the bench for him and everyone was happy to see him hit one out.”
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.
“One thing we pride ourselves on is swinging the bat well and we did that tonight,” said Dennison, “I was proud of relief pitching the whole series and getting a big effort from Travis tonight and Andrew pitched well and had his stuff going so it was a good night all around.”
The Falcons (16-12) welcome the Cowlitz Black Bears (13-16) to town for a three-game mid-week series, beginning on Monday night with a 6:35 PM start time. Tickets can be purchased at the Falcons website or at the gate ahead of the first pitch of the ballgame.
Related Posts
Sponsors
