Falcons score walkoff win

Newcomer crushes homer for 4-3 victory over Pippins

The Kelowna Falcons will close out a threegame homestand against the Yakima Valley Pippins tonight, a series that started with a bang on Saturday.

In a battle of 6-6 teams entering the weekend, the Falcons moved back above .500 thanks to Ian Dawkins’ walkoff home run in the bottom of the ninth inning — launching a bomb over the left-field fence in his Kelowna debut to cap a 4-3 victory.

“Dawkins absolutely tattooed that baseball. That’s a crazy way to win, especially for a guy who just got here (Saturday),” said Falcons head coach Bryan Donohue.

Dawkins made an immediate impact, even before hitting that game-winning homer. He delivered an RBI single to open the scoring in the third inning.

Kelowna clung to that 1-0 lead until the top of the sixth inning, when Yakima Valley’s bats came alive to plate a pair runs and go ahead 2-1.

The Pippins added another run in the eighth, a solo homer that sailed over the scoreboard in centre field for a 3-1 lead.

The Falcons responded with two runs in the bottom of the eighth, tying the game 3-3 and setting the stage for Dawkins’ heroics in the ninth. Dawkins came through in the clutch, considering Kelowna was down to its final out with no runners on base.

The Falcons’ rally in the bottom of the eighth was also a turning point, according to Donohue.

“We found ways to get on base. We got a big hit from Logan Steinberg. He’s in the four-hole for a reason, and that was a huge hit for us,” said Donohue. “It was a good comeback in the eighth and gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Starting pitcher Braeden Toikka also gave the Falcons a chance on Saturday night, only allowing four hits, three walks and two earned runs over 5 1/3 innings while striking out five in a no decision.

“He pitched really well. I thought he did a good job of just competing. He found ways to get outs,” said Donohue. “We had a situation early in the game where the Pippins had two runners on with one out and Toikka found a way to get out of that with a strikeout and a ground out.”

Sam Menegat earned the win in relief for Kelowna, throwing two perfect innings with two strikeouts.

The result of Sunday’s rematch was not available at press time.

Tonight’s finale starts at 6:35 p.m. at Elks Stadium, with the Falcons then heading out on the road for the rest of the week — playing threegame sets against the Bellingham, Wash., Bells from Tuesday to Thursday and Bend, Ore., Elks from Friday to Sunday.