RIDGEFIELD, Wash. — Walla played a near perfect five innings to start Thursday night’s game against the Ridgefield Raptors. Unfortunately, baseball games are nine innings, not five, as the Sweets fell 4-3 in their series finale.

The game could not have started any better for the Sweets. David Mysza led the game off with an automatic double on a ball that one hopped the wall in centerfield. He was brought home an at bat later as Logan Meyer dropped a double right on the right field foul line. Cort MacDonald kept the scoring going with an RBI single that was deep enough to score Meyer.

In the second inning, after two quick outs, JJ Moran went deep over the right field fence for his first homer of the season. He is just the third Sweet to leave the yard this season and only the second to hit one in league play. The bomb put Walla Walla up 3-0.

On the mound, Zach Hangas was on fire through the first five innings. In his first start after the complete game in Canada, Hangas kept his pitch count low again, getting weak contact in quick at bats. Hangas had a no hitter going through 5.1 innings, with the only blemish being an error in the second inning. That is longest no-hit bid for the Sweets this season, passing Josh Aribal’s four innings against Bend on June 19.

However, the sixth inning is when Ridgefield began their comeback. After a leadoff walk and a groundout to keep the no-hitter intact, the first three hitters of the Raptors’ lineup all got knocks against Hangas, bringing home three runs to tie the game.

A double play got the Sweets out of the inning, but the damage was done with the score evened up and only three innings left to play.

In the seventh, Ridgefield scored the winning run on RBI double.

In the final three innings, the Sweets were held hitless. Walla Walla made some noise in the ninth, getting two runners on with two outs. The tying run was standing in scoring position, but a ground ball to the third baseman ended the game with a fielder’s choice.

Zach Hangas threw all eight innings in his second consecutive complete game of the season. In his last two WCL games, he has pitched all 17 innings.

With the loss, the Sweets fall to 9-24 and 0-7 in the second half. The losing streak for the Sweets also extend to nine, which is now the second longest streak in franchise history. The longest streak is 12 games from July 24 through August 10 in 2021.

The Sweets return to Walla Walla after a disappointing four-game road trip. They have three more games before the All-Star break and finally get a rest day after 20 straight days of baseball. The three games is their first series of the season with the first half champion Corvallis Knights. First pitch is set for 6:35 and Sweets’ coverage of the game can be found their YouTube channel.