Kelowna Falcons

Series Preview: Sweets

The Kelowna Falcons return home from a lengthy stint on the road as they host the South Division’s Walla Walla Sweets for a three-game series beginning on Friday night at Elks Stadium.

TICKETS

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2019 Season Series:

Friday, July 5th @ Elks Stadium (6:35 PM)

Saturday, July 6th @ Elks Stadium (6:35 PM)

Sunday, July 7th @ Elks Stadium (6:35 PM)

Friday, August 2nd @ Borleske Stadium (7:05 PM)
Tuesday, August 6th @ Borleske Stadium (6:35 PM)

Wednesday, August 7th @ Borleske Stadium (7:05 PM)

2019 Returnees:

P Wyatt Hummel (Okanagan College/West Kelowna, BC)

P Ian Turner (Mt. Hood Community College/Maple Valley, Washington)

INF Jake Fischer (Okanagan College/Edmonton, AB)

INF Ezra Samperi (Mt. Hood Community College/Gresham, Oregon)

INF Tylor Nixon (Yakima Valley Community College/Hamilton, Montana)

INF Dan Pruitt (Western Oklahoma State/Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

INF Matt Voelzke (George Fox University/Lake Oswego, Oregon)

OF Austen Butler (University of British Columbia/Port Coquitlam, BC)

Between The Foul Poles:

Kelowna:

  • The Falcons enter the weekend set after their second series win of the season after taking two of a possible three games against the Wenatchee AppleSox to conclude a six-game road trip. Kelowna earned a 5-2 victory in the opening game of the three-game set on Tuesday night before picking up a 6-3 win to win the series and look for the sweep in the finale on Thursday. After a 4-1 lead through four and a half innings, the AppleSox found their offence and salvaged the series with a 16-8 victory.
  • Kelowna comes into the final weekend of their first half of the WCL season looking to get some momentum into the second half of the campaign, with the first half wrapping up on Sunday evening. The Falcons come back to Elks Stadium with an 8-15 record while holding a 4-7 record playing on home soil including three wins in their last five games at Elks Stadium.
  • Strong fielding was on display for the Falcons in their series victory over Wenatchee and that has helped them out of some big jams in games when they need a big play. Kelowna sits at the top of the league in fielding percentage at .970 and has made the least errors in the West Coast League this season with 25 in 23 games played.

Walla Walla:

  • The Sweets come into the weekend set against the Falcons after picking up a series victory over the Cowlitz Black Bears at home through the week. A 13-4 victory on Tuesday night was followed by a tight 7-6 loss in the second game of the three-game set. Walla Walla closed out the series with a 6-4 victory on an Independence Day matinee to come away with the series win and keep tight in a tough South Division.
  • As the first half of the season comes to a close for many teams this weekend, Walla Walla is in a tough fight for a playoff spot and trying to win the South Division the in WCL’s first half. The Sweets are just half a game behind the Corvallis Knights for the top spot in the division with the Knights taking on the Ridgefield Raptors in a weekend series. Walla Walla started the season on an impressive 12-2 stretch before going 5-5 in their last 10 games for a 17-7 record on the season.
  • Offence is something the Sweets have no shortage of when looking up and down the roster, including leading the league in doubles with an impressive 51. Walla Walla sits third in the West Coast League in batting average, hitting .274 as a team while also striking out the third least in WCL play, fanning 170 times this season.

Players To Watch:
Kelowna:
INF Richi Sede (5’10”/175 lbs/Corban University)

A spark plug for the offence over the three-game set in Wenatchee came in the way of the charismatic middle infielder Sede, who went 6-for-10 in the series and a major contributor on the defensive side as well. A native of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, Sede has found his stride early in his season with the Falcons, hitting .381 on the season with two doubles and seven RBI’s. Sede earned six RBI’s in the three games in Wenatchee while also stealing two bases in the series finale on Thursday.

INF Marvcus Guarin (6’2”/198 lbs/Seattle University)

Another relatively new face to the Falcons had a huge impact in the series victory over the AppleSox, especially in the middle game of the three-game set. Guarin went 4-for-5 on Wednesday with a three-run home run in the 1st inning and tallying four RBI’s in the Falcons 6-3 win. The San Francisco, California native is 9-for-27 on the season with two doubles, a home run and four RBI’s while also registering seven walks to his name as well.

P Nick Nygard (5’9”/175 lbs/University of Portland)

The left-handed pitcher from Vancouver, Washington has been terrific out of the bullpen for the Falcons and started his first game in Victoria on Canada Day. Nygard went 3.1 innings surrendering a run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts and was the first run he has allowed in his previous four outings. In his last 11.1 innings pitched, Nygard has given up a run on six hits with six walks and 15 strikeouts in that span.

Walla Walla:
OF Patrick Caulfield (5’10”/180 lbs/UCLA)

The returning outfielder from a season ago has flourished this season, boasting the West Coast League’s second best batting average at .413, knocking 38 hits in 92 at-bats. The Burlingame, California native leads the league with his 38 hits this season while driving 6 doubles and 4 home runs over the course of 23 games played and adding 18 RBI’s. Caulfield is second in the league in home runs with 4, second in RBI’s with 18 and leads the league in stolen bases at 19 this season, only being caught once.

INF Justin Folz (6’0”/190 lbs/St. John’s University)

The right handed hitting infielder has also had an impact on the Walla Walla offence, which comes into the weekend with the second most runs scored in the WCL behind Victoria. Floz has excelled with a .357 batting average, going 25-for-70 this season with a home run and 12 runs batted in. The Monroe, Washington native has a knack for finding the gaps, collecting the most doubles in the WCL this season with 10 on a Walla Walla squad that holds 51 through the 2019 campaign.

P Ty Hueckman (6’1”/175 lbs/University of Nevada-Reno)

Used primarily out of the bullpen for Frank Mutz squad, Hueckman has not had an outing of less than two innings this season and holds a 3-0 record on the season in 7 appearances. The Burns, Oregon native has thrown in 18 innings this season, collecting 18 strikeouts to just 8 walks allowed and 10 hits. His last outing was a particularly good one in which he went three innings surrendering no runs with just one hit allowed and walking three while striking out four batters in picking up the win in a 13-4 Sweets victory over the Cowlitz Black Bears.

The Falcons and Sweets open their three-game weekend set to close out the first half of the West Coast League season at Elks Stadium on Friday night running through to Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM on both Friday and Saturday with a Sunday start time of 6:05 PM and tickets available at the Falcons website or at the gate ahead of the opening pitch of the ballgame.

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