Falcons open 6-game homestand tonight
Kelowna hosts Portland at Elks this weekend, followed by Cowlitz
The Kelowna Falcons wrapped up their six-game road trip with an Independence Day victory over the Port Angeles Lefties, 5-4, on Wednesday night at Civic Field.
Kelowna’s pitching was strong as James Brooks, Isaac Olson and Cal Hehnke combined for 11 strikeouts, while Grant Suponchick led the offence with a home run as well as the gamewinning RBI in the seventh inning as the Falcons avoided the sweep and finished the first half of their season on a winning note.
For the first time in four games, the Falcons were the ones to strike first and took an early 2-0 lead in the opening inning. Austen Butler drove in Tylor Nixon on an RBI single before Trent Tinglestad scored.
Brooks started the game for Kelowna and went through the first two innings allowing just one hit and striking out four before the Lefties started to get their offence going and got within a run on an RBI double from Justin Vandebrake in the third inning.
Kelowna had an answer for that with a run in the top half of the fourth as Ryan Fish got on base for the second of what would be four times on the night with an RBI single that cashed Suponchick and restored the Falcons’ two-run lead at 3-1.
In a back-and-forth affair, the Lefties got within a run once again with an RBI single off the bat of Kyle Morgan that pulled Port Angeles closer and cut the deficit to 3-2. The Lefties pressed for more in the fifth inning, but Brooks worked his way out of a jam to complete his outing — allowing two runs on five hits, with six strikeouts.
Suponchick continued his hot road trip with a solo homer to left field as he took a curveball and smashed it over the wall for his second homer of the season and a 4-2 lead for Kelowna.
Suponchick then drove in his second run of the game with a sac fly to give the Falcons a 5-2 lead before the Lefties struck in the bottom half of the seventh frame, scoring twice on back-to-back home runs from Ron Brown and Dalton Harum to cut the lead to 5-4 before Hehnke entered the game.
Hehnke struck out two batters in the eighth and two more in the ninth inning before getting a groundout to end the game and pick up the five-out save — his fourth of the season.
Brooks improved to 2-0 with the win, while Baxter Halligan fell to 1-3 on the season with the loss for Port Angeles.
The Falcons (15-12) officially open the second half of their West Coast League season with a six-game homestand, starting tonight with their first-ever matchup against the Portland Pickles (17-8). The opener of that three-game set is slated for 6:35 p.m. at Elks Stadium. The rematch goes Saturday and the finale on Sunday, before the Cowlitz Black Bears come to town next week.