KAMLOOPS, British Columbia — Walla Walla dropped their final game north of the border, losing to the NorthPaws 7-5. The Sweets had the lead in the later half of the game, but three eventless innings led to Kamloops getting the win and Walla Walla heading home with a series loss.

Like on Saturday, the NorthPaws struck first, this time bringing home two runs in the second inning.

Walla Walla responded in the fourth with two runs of their own. With one out, Cort MacDonald got aboard with a single up the middle. MacDonald then moved up to second on a stolen base, his second swipe of the game. For MacDonald, it was his first multi-steal game of his summer collegiate career.

With MacDonald in scoring position, Logan Meyer knocked a single to right. MacDonald took an aggressive turn at third and was able to score, sliding under a ball that was high over the plate. Meyer advanced to second on the throw, putting the tying run in scoring position. He was moved to third on a groundout and then was brought home on an RBI single from Kennedy Hara.

In the fifth, the Sweets kept their bats going to take a 5-2 lead. Andrew Graham and Kolby Felix got the inning started with back-to-back extra base hits. Graham’s was a double and Felix brought him home with a triple. A couple of at bats later, Meyer got his second RBI of the night with another single, scoring Felix. Another double, this time from Hayden Driggs, scored Meyer from first and put the Sweets up by three.

This is where the game fell apart for the Sweets. After the Driggs double, the next 11 Sweets batters were all retired in order. Walla Walla didn’t get another a hit until the ninth inning.

On the mound, Rex Solle made his second start of the season, and despite the two run second, was not giving much to the NorthPaws. He struck out three batters in four innings, both one more than he recorded in his Sweets debut in Wenatchee the previous weekend.

In the sixth inning, the NorthPaws began their comeback. Kamloops tied the game up with three back-to-back-to-back RBI singles.

In the seventh, the leadoff batter, Joey Rico, flamed a ball 106 mph off the bat and sent over the wall in right field for the first and only home run of the season and put Kamloops up 6-5. They added an insurance run off an error from the Sweets’ defense. After 24 clean innings of error-free baseball, the Sweets committed two errors in the seventh, leading to the extra run scoring.

In the ninth, Rico came in from left field to pitch and get the save for Kamloops. Stevie Hom started the inning off with a single, the first hit for the Sweets since the fifth, but was left stranded there as back-to-back strikeouts ended the game in favor of the NorthPaws.

Three runs is the largest lead lost for the Sweets this season as they drop their eighth series of the year. Walla Walla falls to 9-17 and wraps up their lone Canadian road trip 1-2.

The Sweets come back home to Borleske Monday night to open a three game set with the Portland Pickles. It is the third and final series against the Pickles, the most common opponent for the Sweets this year. First pitch is set for 6:35. Sweets’ coverage of the game can be found on the Sweets’ YouTube channel.