Pippins Power Past Bend Elks

BEND, OR - All nine starters posted hits, and the pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts as the Yakima Valley Pippins defeated the Bend Elks, 5-2, Wednesday night at Vince Genna Stadium.

Jay Schuyler (San Diego) belted the teams first home run of the season, giving the Pippins the lead for good, 3-2, in the top of the 6th inning. Zach Draper (College of Idaho) earned his second win of the season, pitching five innings of two-run baseball while striking out four.

The Pippins (8-2) would score first as Mitchell Morimoto (Arizona) posted his 8th multi-hit game of the season, kickstarted by an RBI single in the first scoring Christian Koss (UC Irvine), who led off the game with a base hit on the very first pitch of the night.

Ryan Garcia (UCLA) threw four scoreless innings of relief, striking out a season-high seven batters including the final out of the contest, which was rain delayed 1-hour and 10-minutes. Jack Sandberg (San Diego) would add an insurance run in the 6th inning with a 2-out RBI single, now collecting four hits over his last two games.

Branson Trube (Gonzaga) and Zach Bonneau (Gonzaga) posted multi-hit efforts in Wednesday night’s win, the second straight over Bend. Fred Smith (Cal State Northridge) finished 1-5 in his debut and Hunter Hanson (College of Idaho) extended his on-base streak to 10 games.

Gavin Velasquez (Cal State Fullerton) will get the start for the Pippins tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. in game two of the three-game road trip. Fans can listen to the game live on 1460 ESPN Yakima, the official home for Yakima Valley Pippins Baseball.