PORTLAND, OR- Ben Parker excelled driving in a season-high five runs as The Walla Walla Sweets dropped game two of the series vs Portland, as the Sweets and Pickles got into an offensive shootout, with the Pickles winning 15-10 Wednesday night from Walker Stadium. With the loss, the Sweets have dropped six in a row and are now 10-22 overall and 0-6 in the second half.  

Walla Walla went down 3-0 after the first inning but Cayden Wotpika found an answer for Walla Walla in the second. The LC Red Devil drove a ball to deep left center and picked up his first home run of the year in his sixth game with the Sweets.

The Wotipka bomb got the Sweets on the board and Walla Walla got a pair to come across an inning later to tie the game at 3. The reigning WCL Player Of The Week started his campaign for a second term with a 2-run double as a part of a 5 RBI night going 4 for 5 to get his team-leading 19th-23rd RBIs on the season.

The Pickles did regain the lead an inning later but Walla Walla did connect with a massive top of the fourth driving in five runs in the frame. The Sweets loaded the bases as Kennedy Hara kicked off the scoring with an RBI knock and wouldn’t need to wait long to be driven in. Aidan Espinoza came in and cleared the bases with a three-run triple to extend the Sweets’ lead to 7-4. Parker finished the job driving in Espinoza with a base hit to make it 8-4 in the middle of the fourth. 

Portland then re-tied the game in the bottom of the fourth but took the lead 12-8 after a four-run fifth. The scoring would slow down till the eighth and in the inning the Sweets would find more offense. Parker added his fourth and fifth RBI on the night capping off his season-best night to get Walla Walla on the board. 

Sweets by the Numbers

• Parker’s 5 RBI night is a Sweets season high in RBIs 
• Wotipka’s Homerun is his first with Walla Walla
• Espinoza extends his hit streak to five games
• Hara extends his on base streak to 21 games
• Parker now ranks top 10 in the WCL in AVG(.407 2nd), SLG (.522 3rd), OBP (.469 4th), and RBIs (23 7th)

Straight from the Onions Mouth

 Up Next

Sweets battle with Portland on 7/13/23 at 7:05 P.M