Pippins End Regular Season in Record-Breaking Style

The final game of the regular season for the Yakima Valley Pippins was a record breaker as they extended their record to 35-19, the most wins by a West Coast League expansion team, by shutting  down the Wenatchee AppleSox, 4-1.

Wenatchee quickly got the bases loaded on the Pippins' Gabe Gentner when Michael McCann laid down a safety squeeze bunt to score the only run for the AppleSox.

But the Pippins' Genter and the AppleSox's Brandon Bailey and Colton Loomis were not letting each other have any other opportunities to score for 6 1/2 innings. When the Pippins got into the seventh inning, however, things suddenly turned for them.

All during the game, there was an air of anticipation of the possibility of a few more records being broken. The inning was led off by a walk by Alex Guenette. Justin Jacobs and Kyle Thomson both singled to get the bases loaded for Vince Fernandez, who was in the hunt to set two new records.

On the first pitch -- delivered by Hunter Wells -- Fernandez wrote his name in the WCL record books with a grand slam home run to deep center field. It was the 10th home run of the season and raised his RBI total to 51.

Conner Lau and Justin Jacobs shut down the AppleSox in the last couple of innings, and Justin Jacobs get his first save of the season to make the final 4-1 Pippins.

Now it's playoff time for the Yakima Valley Pippins, who take on the Bellingham Bells on Tuesday with first pitch at 7:05 p.m., and pre-game at 6:55 on 1460 ESPN Yakima.