WALLA WALLA, Wash. — It took almost the entire year, but the Sweets finally got their first sweep of the season, beating the Cowlitz Black Bears 7-2 in Sunday’s series finale. The win also marks the longest winning streak of the year for the Sweets.

Much like Saturday night, Cowlitz took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The Sweets responded this time in the third inning. Logan Meyer and David Mysza got the inning started with a single and a walk to put two on for Stevie Hom. The Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islander got ahead in the count 1-0 and then blasted a ball over the left field wall to put the Sweets up.

It was a bit of vindication for Hom who had a home run robbed from him on July 20 against the same Cowlitz Black Bears. Hom cleared the wall with room to spare this time though and put the Sweets up 3-1.

The scoring didn’t stop there as Cowlitz had yet to record an out before the home run. Cort MacDonald followed up the bomb with a double and was brought home a few batters later with a sacrifice fly from Joey Winters.

Cowlitz got a run back in the top of the fourth off a weird dropped third strike call, but that was the last run the Black Bears would get.

On the mound, Josh Aribal dominated in his final start of the season. Aribal tossed a career-high seven innings. What is more impressive is that he singlehandedly struck out 11 Cowlitz batters, shattering the team’s season record of nine, which he also set July 12. Eleven strikeouts in an outing is the most since Travis Craven struck out 14 against Wenatchee over three years ago on July 22, 2021. That season had three games with a Sweets pitcher getting into double digits, with Calvin Kirchoff punching out 11 on July 17 and 10 on August 11.

The final strikeout from Aribal was to end the seventh frame and strand a runner on in a two-run ball game.

Aribal was awarded his first win of the season for the performance.

The Sweets extended their lead in the seventh by putting another crooked number on the board. Walla Walla got two runners on and in scoring position, prompting an intentional walk from Cowlitz to Winters. The free pass brought up JJ Moran, who smoked a ball up the middle to bring home MacDonald and Kolby Felix. Hayden Driggs brought home Winters for the final run of the game, also with an RBI single to centerfield.

Luke Stutesman and Rex Solle pitched the eighth and ninth innings respectively to finish off the game and preserve the win for the Sweets.

With the win, the Sweets improve to 10-15 in the second half and 19-32 overall. It is their eighth win in 12 games and third in a row, setting a new season high. It is also the first sweep of the season for the Sweets.

With Cowlitz, Springfield, and Yakima Valley all losing as well, Walla Walla takes sole possession of fifth place in the overall standings in the South Division. It is the first time since June 18 that Sweets have not been last or tied for last in the standings.

Walla Walla is also now one more win away from matching their record in 2023. If they win two games in their final series, they will have improved in year two under manager Jarrod Molnaa.

The Sweets final series is against the Ridgefield Raptors. Like Cowlitz, the Raptors swept the Sweets at their home ballpark earlier in the year. Walla Walla will look to return the favor in the last three games of the season. Game one of the series is Tuesday, August 6, with first pitch set for 6:35. Sweets’ coverage of the game can be found their YouTube channel.