Recap
The Kelowna Falcons (7-6) kept their winning streak alive by walking off the Yakima Valley Pippins (6-7) in the bottom of the ninth inning.
It was a fantastic ball game that was filled with excitement and great offensive and defensive plays from both ball clubs at the park.
Kelowna got the game started with an RBI single courtesy of new Falcon, Ian Dawkins. That made it 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning. Nothing else happened offensively until the top of the sixth when the Pippins bats came alive and scored a pair of runs to give themselves a 2-1 lead.
Yakima Valley would add another run in the top of the eighth. It was a solo home run over the scoreboard in center field that put the Pippins up by a pair of runs.
The Falcons hung tough and were able to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. The game would end after Dawkins came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth.
With two outs on the board and no runners on base, Dawkins launched a bomb over the left field fence to complete the walkoff victory.
Bryan Donohue, the Falcons head coach, reflected on the game. When asked about his starting pitcher Braeden Toikka, he said, “He pitched really well. I thought he did a good job of just competing. He found ways to get outs. We had a situation early in the game where the Pippins had two runners on with one out and Toikka found a way to get out of that with a strikeout and a groundout.”
When asked about the bottom of the eighth, Donohue said, “We found ways to get on base. We got a big hit from Logan Steinberg. He’s in the four-hole for a reason and that was a huge hit for us. It was a good comeback as we got to in the eighth and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
Donohue was also understandably excited for Dawkins, the new Falcon who launched the walkoff homer out of the park. He said, “Dawkins absolutely tattooed that baseball. That’s a crazy way to win especially for a guy who just got here today.”
The Falcons and Pippins will meet once again on Sunday night at 6:05 pm for game two of the three-game series.
Falcons Play by Play and Recaps courtesy of Anthony Fusco.
