Falcons hosting Victoria starting tonight

Kelowna had 4-game winning streak stopped on Sunday in Washington

The Kelowna Falcons had their four-game winning streak halted on Sunday night but have been playing well lately in pursuit of a West Coast League playoff berth.

The Falcons fell 14-13 to the Yakima Valley, Wash., Pippins, getting walked off by the hosts in the bottom of the ninth inning.

This, after winning Saturday’s series opener in convincing fashion, 11-5 on Canada Day.

That was Kelowna’s fourth straight victory after previously sweeping the Cowlitz, Wash., Black Bears at Elks Stadium last week, culminating with Wednesday’s epic 6-5 come-from-behind triumph in 14 innings — a five-hour marathon in front of a packed house for the annual Firefighters Burn Fund fundraiser game.

At Yakima Valley, the Falcons (16-10) opened the scoring Sunday by putting up four runs in the top of the first inning.

The Pippins (13-12) chipped away at Kelowna’s lead, responding with a run in the bottom of the first, then two in the fourth, before the teams traded single runs in the fifth, as the Falcons managed to stay up 5-4.

However, the host Pippins powered ahead 9-5 by scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Kelowna then rallied for three runs in the seventh, three in the eighth and two more in the ninth to lead 13-10 heading into Yakima Valley’s final at-bat.

The Pippins refused to lose, though, producing a walkoff win with four runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Kelowna’s top performer at the plate was Matt Bottcher, who had four hits and four RBIs on the night.

Sunday marked the first time this season that the Falcons had lost to the Pippins, with Kelowna owning a 4-1 record against Yakima Valley heading into Monday’s rubber match. That result was not available at press time.

In Saturday’s opener, the Falcons cooled off the red-hot Pippins, who had won five in a row prior to this series.

Kelowna’s Kade Mechals made his third start of the season and was a dominant force again, working seven innings and allowing just five hits with two earned runs. He didn’t walk anyone and struck out eight.

“He was pretty electric,” Falcons manager Bryan Donohue said of Mechals’ Canada Day performance. “He had everything going. His velocity was there. He was throwing anything he wanted at any time he wanted. He set the tone for us.”

Kelowna was able to smash a total of 13 hits on the night, led by Taylor Wright, who hammered a three-run homer and collected four RBIs.

“He’s been doing it all year. He’s hitting so well right now,” Donohue said of Wright. “Any time someone makes any mistake over the plate, he’ll make them pay for it.”

Going back to Wednesday’s finale against Cowlitz, Kelowna took over sole possession of first place in the WCL’s North Division standings by completing that sweep thanks to the heroics of Josh Glenn and Bottcher, who scored the winning run on Glenn’s hit in the bottom of the 14th inning.

The Falcons opened the scoring in the first inning and added single runs in the third and fifth innings as well.

The Black Bears rallied in the seventh and eighth to tie the game at 3-3.

After that, the innings rolled by and the diehard fans stayed in their seats anxiously awaiting the winning runs.

In the 12th inning, Cowlitz scored a pair of runs for a 5-3 lead.

However, the Falcons returned fire in the bottom half, as Wright belted his second home run of the night after Alex McGarry had walked to get on base. Kelowna also had two batters strike out and was down to its final out when Wright delivered again to extend the game at 5-5.

In the 14th, Bottcher led off with a double before Connor Gurnik struck out trying to advance Bottcher. That brought Glenn to the plate and he crushed the ball to deep centre, as Bottcher rounded the bases to score the winning run.

The dramatic win was, fittingly, followed by a fireworks show.

All gate proceeds were donated to the Firefighters Burn Fund.

The Falcons are back at home tonight to start a three-game set against the only other Canadian team in the WCL, the Victoria HarbourCats (15-13), who were idle Monday and are coming to Kelowna on a five-game winning streak.

All three games are slated for 6:35 p.m. at Elks Stadium, with the series continuing on Wednesday and concluding on Thursday.