Wenatchee Sweeps Elks in Season Series

Bend couldn’t keep up with the Wenatchee, who rolled to victory once more and completed its sixth straight win over the Elks this season. (Andrew Green)

Wenatchee, WA. - It took the Wenatchee AppleSox 23 years to sweep the Bend Elks for the first time. On Wednesday, the AppleSox swept Bend for the second time this season with a 13-5 embarrassment of the Elks.

Bend (21-22, 18-21) found themselves trailing early throughout the series, and Wednesday night was no different as Wenatchee (31-12, 28-11) jumped out to a 3-0 lead on its first three swings with back-to-back doubles and a two-run homer from Wenatchee’s top three in the order. Despite Bend finding a way to even the game on an error by Wenatchee’s third baseman and a two-run double by Ryan Christiansen, the Elks pitching staff couldn’t contain the AppleSox, who broke out for ten runs over the next three frames to put the game well out of reach.

Wenatchee’s win marked its sixth straight win at home and sixth sweep of the season. Additionally, the five-time West Coast League Champions secured their 16th winning season in franchise history.

As for the Elks, they came out on the wrong end of history, being swept for the third time this season. To worsen matters, Bend has now lost over 20 games for the seventh consecutive season since winning it all in 2015.

The ugly series finale for the Elks saw Bend batters strike out 14 times and pitchers walk 10 AppleSox. A high strikeout offense added to walk-prone pitching made a perfect storm of disaster for the Elks.

Although Bend scored over five runs in each game of the series, the AppleSox did just better, raking in 34 runs over the three-game set. The bullpen that locked it down for the Elks the night before couldn’t replicate the success in the series finale giving up eight earned runs over the final six innings with eight walks and six strikeouts.

The Elks salvaged what little dignity they had left by scoring a run in the eighth and ninth on RBI singles from Hunter Komine and Ty Silva, who finished his summer in Bend on the right foot.

Bend gets a rest day Thursday to recover from the long six-day road trip before returning to Vince Genna Stadium Friday to open up a series against the Portland Pickles, who the Elks took two of three games from two weeks ago in City of Roses.