WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Sweets dropped their series opener to the Portland Pickles Monday night, losing 12-4.

Walla Walla had no answer for the Pickles, who scored in four of the first five innings of the game. The Pickles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and never looked back.

Walla Walla responded with a run of their own in the first, with Cort MacDonald bringing home Stevie Hom with an RBI single.

After giving up two more runs, the Sweets got back in the board in the third with Davis Mauzy working his way around the bases. After a leadoff single, he advanced to second on a balk, then was brought home on two consecutive groundouts.

The last bit of scoring the Sweets would do was in the eighth. Down 9-2, Kolby Felix went deep over the left field wall for his third home run of the season, bringing him and Andrew Graham home. Felix has every home run for the Sweets so far and has homered in the last three home series.

Portland added three runs in the top of the ninth, giving the final score of 12-4.

With the loss, the Sweets fall to 9-18 overall and are 0-1 in the second half of the season. They will look to even the series on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:35. Sweets’ coverage of the game can be found the Sweets’ YouTube channel.