Falcons Soak Elks

The Kelowna Falcons used a four-run 2^nd inning and a Trent Tinglestad two-run home run to pick up a series opening victory over the Bend Elks in a game that was started on Wednesday but finished on Thursday at Elks Stadium.

The Falcons opened the scoring in the 1^st inning of play, coming courtesy of Dan Pruitt with two outs. Matt Voelzke led off the game with a single, stole second before being driven in by Pruitt on a single that dropped into right field for a 1-0 Falcon advantage after the 1^st inning of play.

Kelowna continued to show a strong display of batting with two outs as they brought home four runs in the 2^nd inning and broke the game open a bit. Voelzke drove in a run with a base hit before Trent Tinglestad collected an RBI single to put the Falcons ahead by a 3-0 score. Taylor Wright added to the lead with a bases-loaded two-run double to right center field to extend the Kelowna lead to 5-0.

Trevor Brigden was throwing very well for the Falcons, surrendering just one hit through three innings before the Elks got their first run on the board with three consecutive hits with two outs and Alex Pallios finished it off with an RBI single to cut the Falcons lead to 5-1.

Garret Kelly extended the Falcons lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the 5^th inning with an RBI single to center field and another two-out RBI hit for Kelowna gave them their five-run lead back at 6-1 before a back-and-forth 6^th inning.

It was Pallios again who brought home a pair of runs in the 6^th inning with a ball off of Austen Butler in center field as the error cashed in two runs for the Elks and cut the Falcons lead to 6-3 but did not stay that way for long, courtesy of an All-Star.

Butler was able to lead the bottom of the 6^th inning off with a single to give way to Tinglestad, who scorched a two-run home run down the right field to tie the league lead with his 8^th homer of the season and his 3^rd RBI of the game pushed the Falcons back ahead by an 8-3 score.

Brigden exited the game after 6.2 IP allowing just three runs and striking out nine batter as he continued his string of good starts before the game took a turn in the peculiar side in the top half of the 8^th inning.

Isaac Olson was brought into the game in relief and struck out Chris Diehl for the second out of the inning when the sprinklers started to rain on the field at Elks Stadium, and would not stop. The game was delayed 20 minutes before being suspended with play resuming on Thursday with Bend having the bases loaded and two outs in the 8^th frame.

Olson induced a ground out to get out of the inning once the game came back to action on Thursday before Matt Land added an RBI single in the bottom half of the 8^th inning to seal a 9-3 Falcons victory.

Trevor Brigden earned the win for Kelowna, going 6.2 IP allowing three runs while RJ Robles took the loss for the Elks, starting the game and going four innings while allowing five runs.

The Falcons (21-16/7-4) take on the Elks (11-29/4-9) in the series finale of their only three-game series of the season on Friday night at 6:35 PM at Elks Stadium. Tickets can be purchased at the Falcons website or at the door ahead of the opening pitch of the game.

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