By Joseph Traub
for the Peninsula Daily News
WENATCHEE — Day off? No problem for the Port Angeles Lefties, who stayed hot at the plate after a day off Monday, earning a 15–9 victory in the series opener over the Wenatchee AppleSox at Paul Thomas Sr. Field on Tuesday night.
Nick DiPonzio led the way at the plate for Port Angeles in his return to the lineup after missing four games, going 4 for 5 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI, finishing a home run shy of the cycle.
DiPonzio suffered a road rash style scrape while sliding into a base last week at Portland. The wound became infected, forcing him to miss some action.
The Lefties (7-3, 5-2 WCL) raced out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings Tuesday night and did not look back. C.J. Schauwecker and Damiano Palmegiani singled with two outs in the opening frame and Sequim’s Evan Hurn drove them both in with a double to left-center field.
Hurn is hitting .375 with five doubles, a home run and seven RBIs in seven games.
Palmegiani leads the West Coast League with three home runs and nine RBIs.
The second was keyed by a two-run, opposite-field triple off the bat of Justin Fugitt. Ethan Groff added an RBI single later in the inning.
Fugitt is fifth in the WCL in batting average with a Lefties-high .476 average.
The AppleSox made a couple of small comeback attempts but the Port Angeles onslaught was too much for them to handle. The Lefties scored one in the fifth and sixth, two in the seventh and put it away for good with four runs in the eighth inning. Zander Marco delivered an RBI single before DiPonzio came through with his signature hit of the evening, a bases-loaded double up the alley in left-center to give his team a 15-6 lead.
Port Angeles has now won three games in a row for the first time this season and are outscoring their opponents 87-47 through 10 games in 2019.
The Lefties faced Wenatchee late Wednesday and will wrap the series with the AppleSox tonight at 6:35 p.m.
Joe Traub will provide play-by-play through the Lefties Baseball page on Facebook Live.
Sports Reporter Michael Carman contributed to this report.
Port Angeles 15, Wenatchee 9
PA 2 5 0 0 1 1 2 4 0 — 15 15 4
Wen. 0 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 3 — 9 10 2
WP: J. Chavez LP: Long
Pitching
Port Angeles — J. Chavez 5IP, 4H, 2R, ER, 4K; Fitch 1.1IP, 2H, 3R, 2ER, 3BB, K; A. Chavez 1.2IP, R, BB, 2K; Loewen IP, 4H, 3R, 3ER, BB, K.
Wenatchee — Long 1.1IP, 9H, 7R, 6ER; Gillis 4.2IP, 2H, 2R, ER, BB, 5K; Burnt IP, 2H, 5R, 5ER, 4BB, 2K; Sommer 2IP, 2H, R, ER, 4K.
Hitting
Port Angeles — DiPonzio 4-5, 2 2B, 3B, 3R, 4RBI; Fugitt 1-3, 3B, R, 2RBI; Hurn 2-4, 2B, BB, R, 2RBI; Schauwecker 2-4, 2B, 2R; Palmegiani 1-5, BB, 2R
Wenatchee — Klassen 1-3, R, 2RBI; Graham 2-5, RBI; Sage 2-4, BB, 2 2B, 3R.
