Kelowna Falcons bats silenced in loss to Portland Pickles

The Kelowna Falcons were held hitless through the last eight innings Saturday night as they fell for the second game to the Portland Pickles by a 5-3 score at Walker Stadium.

Kelowna started the game off well, collecting three runs on four hits in the 1st inning but that would be all the offence would get as Portland pitching shut down the Falcons bats and scored five unanswered runs as the Pickles won the series with their two-run victory.

The Falcons opened the game with a bang as Matt Voelzke led off with a single and was driven in by Trent Tinglestad on an RBI single to get Kelowna ahead by a 1-0 score. Taylor Wright brought home a run on an RBI bunt single with Cody Crowder rounding out the scoring with a base hit to bring him in and get the Falcons out to an early lead at 3-0.

The Pickles had a response in the bottom half of the inning with a pair of runs, beginning with an RBI groundout from Mikey Perez got Portland on the board before Andrew Alvarez struck out Joey Cooper with two outs but the ball got away from catcher Jake Fischer and scored Gio Diaz from 3rd base to get Portland within one run.

Carson Breashears continued his strong series against Kelowna as he picked up a two-out RBI single to tie the game at 3-3 in the 2nd inning before Portland took their first, and only, lead of the game.

The Bakersfield, California native had a play in giving the Pickles the lead in the 4th inning as he came up with the bases loaded. Breashears smacked a base hit to right field to bring a run in to score before a throwing error allowed another run to plate as Portland jumped ahead by a 5-3 score.

That’s when the Pickles reliving staff took over the game and shut the Falcons offence down as it started with right hander Leo Nierenberg, who went three innings without allowing a hit.

The Falcons pitching staff held their own as well with Isaac Olson working his way out of a bases loaded jam in the 4th inning after Portland took the lead and went 2.1 innings without allowing a run, including getting out of another bases loaded threat in the 6th inning.

Zac Bygum pitched two strong innings in his appearance, getting around a two-out, two-on situation while Damon Treadwell shut down the Falcons best attempt at getting a run on the board in the 8th inning with back-to-back strikeouts while the Falcons had runners on second and third base with one out.

Caleb Wyatt came on to close the game for Portland, striking out the side as Kelowna was held without a hit for the last 8 innings of play and fell by a 5-3 score to the Pickles.

Andrew Alvarez suffered the loss for Kelowna while Leo Nierenberg earned the victory as the Falcons (20-15/6-3) look to salvage the series against the Pickles (22-12/5-3) in the final game of their three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 PM with the game being broadcasted live on mixlr.com/kelowna_falcons with the Voice of the Falcons, Trevor Miller.