Trailing 5-3 in the eighth, it did not look good for the Sweets. Kopacz worked a one-out walk and advanced to second on a ground out. With two outs, Denver Chavez drilled his second-straight double to dead center to score Kopacz and make it 5-4. Alex Stanford followed with his third hit, a single to right-center that scored Chavez to tie the game at 5-5.
Then, in the tenth, Walla Walla rallied off Bend closer Jeff Brigham. Austin Heaps started the Sweets with a leadoff single, advanced to second on a Goose Kallunki bunt and was then pinch-run for by James Campbell. A wild pitch moved Campbell to third and Kopacz drilled a 2-2 curveball to right-center for an RBI double.
Bend, as they had all night, did not make it easy in the bottom of the tenth. Nick Wagner and Royce Bollinger notched back-to-back one-out singles to put the tying run on second against Sweets closer Simon Anderson. Unfazed, Anderson got Stetson Olson to pop out and then struck out Michael Benjamin to end the game and give the Sweets the series victory.
And that was just the final three innings. Bend nearly blew open the game in the first thanks to two WW errors and a torrential downpour. A dropped fly ball and a throwing error helped Bend load the bases off of Tim Culligan but Stanford fielding a ground ball and threw to Chavez at second to end the inning. Once the inning ended, the umpires took the teams off the field with a heavy rain falling. The rain delay lasted 30 minutes.
After the rain delay, the teams came out swining. Bend starter Josh McAlister had set down the first six Sweets but Brenton Allen started the third with a single to right and was on third with two outs when Stanford ripped a double to deep right-center, making it 1-0. The Elks did not waste any time rallying. Culligan had two outs and a runner on first but the Elks strung together three-straight hits to score two runs. Jordan Brower singled up the middle to tie the game and Ryan Dunn's single to right gave the Elks their first lead, 2-1.
The score remained there until the sixth as the Sweets left the bases loaded in the fourth. In the sixth, Wentz singled and Heaps walked to start the inning and after two-straight outs, Kevin Hawk ripped an RBI single to right to tie the game. Chavez followed with a double that landed just inside the right field line to give the Sweets a 3-2 lead.
Again, Bend rallied in their next at-bats. After Culligan recorded the first out, Bend strung together four-straight hits to score three runs. Cullen Hendrickson tied the game with an RBI double, Wagner singled through a drawn-in infield to make it 4-3 and Bollinger hit a sac fly to center to give the Elks a 5-3 lead.
That lead seemed like more than enough until the Sweets rallied. Jacob Overbay came on in relief of Culligan in the seventh and gave the Sweets a chance to make their comeback. He struck out two in the seventh, worked around a leadoff single in the eighth and then struck out two more in the ninth, including Toby Demello with runners on second and third to end the inning. The three scoreless innings stretched his streak to 22.2 innings of relief without allowing an earned run.
Making a start on four days rest, Culligan pitched well outside of the third and sixth innings. Those two innings were the only innings that he allowed a hit. He finished with one strikeout and one walk over six innings and allowed five runs (three earned). Anderson picked up his fourth save of the summer and has not allowed a run since June 17. Stanford had his second-straight three-hit game and is tied for the league-lead in hits with 56. Wentz had two hits for the fourth time in five games and Hawk's single extended his hitting streak to eight games. Chavez doubled twice, drove in two and scored a run to help the Sweets win their league-high fourth game when trailing after seven innings. Tyler Christian, Brower, Dunn, Hendrickson and Wagner all had two hits for Bend. Brigham took the loss, allowing only his second run in eight appearances this summer.
The Sweets win and Bellingham's 6-1 loss to Kitsap give Walla Walla a two game lead in the East Division standings with six games to play. The magic number is five which means any combination of Walla Walla wins and Bellingham losses that equals five earns the Sweets their first playoff berth in franchise history. Walla Walla trailed Bellingham by five games on July 15.
Walla Walla begins a three-game series against Cowlitz on Friday at Story Field in Longview at 6:35 p.m. The Black Bears have won four of the first six meetings between the teams and trail Bend by a half game for the final playoff spot in the West. Aaron Hoverson will get the ball for the Sweets.
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‧ Extra, Extra; Sweets win 6-5 in 10 - Walla Walla Sweets
‧ Falcons drop finale - Kelowna Falcons
‧ Elks fall 6-5 in extras - Bend Elks
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