PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Lefties are still waiting for their first Civic Field victory after giving up a two-run lead late and falling 9-6 to the Kelowna Falcons on Wednesday night.
With the win Kelowna picked up a three-game series sweep of Port Angeles. The loss pushed the Lefties (2-5) into last place in the West Coast League’s six-team North Division standings.
Junior makes debut
Port Angeles went up 5-0 after two innings.
The Lefties scored three runs in the first, two of them coming on a double by Sean Roby that scored leadoff hitter Austyn Tengan and center fielder Alex Junior.
Roby later came around and scored.
Tengan went 4 for 5, hit a double, stole a base and scored three times on the night to lead Port Angeles.
The Cal-State Bakersfield Roadrunner has a .600 batting average in three games played for the Lefties.
Junior added two hits and an RBI in his debut for Port Angeles.
He played for the franchise when it was located in Bremerton last summer and joined the team after his Tennessee Tech squad was eliminated from the NCAA Baseball Tournament last weekend.
Two more Lefties runs in the bottom of the second pushed the Port Angeles lead to 5-0.
But Kelowna crept closer, plating four in the top of the fourth.
Tengan singled and scored on a single by Junior in the seventh for a 6-4 Lefties lead.
But reliever Jake Suddreth allowed three Kelowna runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth.
The Falcons got RBI hits from Taylor Wright, Davis Todsichuk and Bo Meiklejohn to take the lead.
In the top of the ninth, Kelowna tacked on two more runs.
Chris Arpan knocked in Jake Malone before Taylor Wright scored on a Connor Gurnik fielder’s choice.
Up next
Port Angeles hosts the Walla Walla Sweets in the second game of a three-game series tonight at Civic Field. Gates open at 5:35 p.m. and first pitch is 6:35 p.m.
The Sweets provide live streaming of radio broadcasts of their games at www.wallawallasweets.com/media/listen-live.
Wear your uniform
Clallam County youth baseball and softball players age 12 and younger who come to Civic Field in their team uniforms will be admitted free to Saturday’s game against Walla Walla.
WCL honors pair
Northern Colorado junior first baseman Evan Johnson of the Wenatchee AppleSox and University of British Columbia first-year pitcher Adam McKillican of the Victoria HarbourCats are the West Coast League Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week for June 1-4.
Johnson went 5 for 13 with two home runs and four RBI. He posted a .500 OBP and 1.417 OPS for the week.
McKillican made two relief appearances this past week, both 3-inning scoreless stints, and picked up a win and save.
The right-hander from UBC earned the win in the HarbourCats 11-2 season-opening victory at Port Angeles; and saved yesterday’s 6-2 Victoria win at Yakima Valley.
Kelowna 9, Port Angeles 6
Kelowna0 0 0 4 0 0 0 3 2 — 9 9 1
Lefties 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 — 6 10 1
WP: Roes LP: Suddreth
Pitching
Kelowna — Windeler 7IP, 9H, 6ER, BB, 3K; Roes 2IP, H, 0R, 2BB, K.
Port Angeles — Zmuda 4.1IP, 2H, 4R, 0ER, 6BB, 3K; Smith 1.2IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 4K; Kubo 1.1IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K; Suddreth 1.2 IP, 5H, 5R, 4ER, 4BB, 2K.
Hitting
Kelowna — Malone 3-5, BB, 2B, 2R, 2RBI; Meiklejohn 2-5, 2RBI; Wright 1-4, 2BB, 2B, 2R, RBI
Port Angeles — Tengan 4-5, 2B, SB, 3R; Junior 2-3, BB, R, RBI; Roby 1-4, R, 2RBI; Galeno 1-3, RBI.
Port Angeles Lefties pitcher Drew Zmuda, right, covers first base as Kelowna’s Bo Meikljohn reaches for the base. Meikljohn was called out but the Falcons picked up a three-game sweep of the Lefties. Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News
