Wenatchee Knocks the Elks Out of the Park to Take the Series

Trey Nelson went deep for the second straight game, but the Elks still dropped the series to the AppleSox. (Andrew Green)

Wenatchee, WA. - In a game packed with five home runs, the Bend Elks came out on the short end of an 8-5 win for the Wenatchee AppleSox Tuesday, who took the series and have now won five straight against the Elks this season.

The night followed a similar tale to Bend's previous four games, finding themselves down early. However, what would start as a two-run deficit quickly became a seven-run hole on just two swings of the AppleSox bats. 2022 Bend Elk Cooper Whitton punished his former team with a three-run home run in his AppleSox debut. A couple of batters later, Nick Putnam, who already had a two-RBI single, sent a two-run shot to right to make it a 7-0 lead for Wenatchee.

The AppleSox five-run third inning would mark the end of the line for Ryan Rembisz (1-2), who continued his second-half slide. In his last two starts, Rembisz has been held responsible for the loss while surrendering multiple earned runs and walks. On Tuesday, Rembisz went just 2.2 innings giving up seven earned runs, eight hits, and three walks while striking out three batters.

On the bright side, Bend's bullpen flourished, with Simon Lemke, Gus Rogers, and Jackson Peters turning in some of their best outings of the summer. The trio combined for eight of the Elks' 11 strikeouts, allowing just one run and four hits with no walks over the final five innings.

Despite the large deficit, Bend managed to rally for five unanswered runs sparked by a 399-foot solo blast to left by Trey Nelson, who went yard for the second straight night. The Elks relied on the long ball again for its next pair of runs as Luca Dipaolo launched his third homer of the season, a two-run shot in the sixth. Bend added a couple more runs in the seventh on an Elijah Jackson one-run double and an RBI groundout by Dipaolo to make it a three-run game. Unfortunately, the Elks' rally cry came to a halt there as they could not complete the comeback over the final two innings.

Bend (21-21, 18-20) will look to avoid being swept by Wenatchee (30-12, 27-11) for the second time this season Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium.