PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Lefties began a sweep against Walla Walla with some spectacular pitching and ended it with some loud offense.
The Lefties won their third straight game Saturday night, beating the Sweets 8-2 behind home runs from Sean Roby and Mitchell Hagan and a pair of doubles by Alex Junior. The sweep evens the Lefties’ record at 5-5, one-half game behind first-place Kelowna in the West Coast League’s North Division.
The Lefties also got their third straight outstanding pitching effort. After serious no-hit bids on Thursday and Friday nights, the Lefties got eight shutout innings from Nick Bonniksen, Aaron Charles and Nick Johnston. Bonniksen went five innings, giving up just two hits and one walk with four strikeouts. Charles picked up the win by going two scoreless innings with no hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
The Lefties gave up six hits Saturday and a total of just nine hits to the Sweets in the three-game sweep.
The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning when the Lefties’ offense erupted.
Joey Galeno began the rally by getting hit by a pitch. Taylor Adams got on base on an error, then Junior drove in both runners with a two-out double. Junior later came in on another Sweets error to make it 3-0.
Trent Bryan began another scoring rally in the seventh with a single. Junior hit his second double of the game, putting runners at second and third. Kevin Kendall drove in Bryan with a single and Junior came around to score on an error by Sweets centerfielder Danny Sinatro to make it 5-0.
The Lefties tacked on another three runs in the eighth via the long ball. Roby began the inning with a leadoff solo home run. Benny Kalewvahea got on base with a walk, then came in to score when Hagan smacked a home run, making it 8-0. The Sweets scored a run in the ninth and had the bases loaded with no outs, threatening to possibly get back in the game, but Lefties pitcher Trayson Kubo was able to get a fly ball (for a sacrifice fly), a strikeout and a groundout to end the game with no more damage.
Junior finished the game 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs, while Kevin Kendall was 3 for 5.
The Lefties had Sunday off and now travel to Victoria to play the HarbourCats at 6:35 p.m. Monday. Check the Lefties website www.Leftiesbaseball.com and Facebook page for radio feeds of the game.
Port Angeles 8, Walla Walla 2
Sweets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 — 2 6 3
Lefties 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 3 0 — 8 8 0
WP: Charles LP: King
Pitching
Sweets — King 4.2IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 2K; Amrhein 1.1IP, 0H, 0ER, 0BB, 3K; Deere 1IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB; Odahil 1IP, 2H, 3ER, 2BB.
Lefties — Bonniksen 5IP, 2H, 0ER, 1BB, 4K; Charles 2IP 0ER, 1BB, 2K; Johnston 1IP, 0ER, 0H, 1K; Kubo 1IP 2H, 2ER, 2BB, 1K.
Hitting
Sweets — Zimmer 1-3, Capra 1-4, R; Nyquist 1-4, R, Henderson 0-3, RBI.
Lefties — Junior 2-3, 2 2B, 2RBI, 2R; Roby 1-4, HR, RBI, R; Hagan 1-2, HR, R 2RBI; Kendall 3-5, RBI; Adams 1-4, R.
Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News Lefties’ pitcher Nick Bonniksen delivers to plate against the Walla Walla Sweets on Saturday. Bonniksen went five innings and gave up just two hits with no runs allowed in the 8-2 win.
