Sweets Stun Pippins in a Wild One in Walla Walla

The Yakima Valley Pippins fell victim to a late-inning walk-off Sweets rally, losing 11-10 Saturday in Walla Walla.

Mike Duarte reached on an infield single to score the winning run in the ninth inning for the Sweets to put the cap on nine runs in the final three innings.

The game started in the Pippins favor as they scored twice runs in the top of the first. The bats of J.C. Snyder and Reid Martinez helped to add three more runs in the third innning to put the Pips up 5-0.

But the Sweets got a couple of runs off the Pippins pitching in the bottom of the third, pulling to within 5-2.

In the seventh inning, Ryan Yamane doubled Fernandez home. Later, Taylor Snyder and Yamane scored to give the Pippins what seemed like a safe 8-2 cushion.

In the bottom of the seventh, though, the pitching for the Pippins went haywire and the Sweets closed the gap with a five-run burst. In the eighth, with Yakima up 8-7, J.C. Snyder's two-RBI double put the Pippins ahead 10-7. It could've been even more but on a sacrifice fly, Mitch Skaggs was called out by the umpire claiming he left third base early on the tag-up

The Sweets then came back in the ninth with four more runs to rally for the win.

The loss takes the Pippins’ West Coast League record down to 14-10, but still good enough for first place in the league's East Division.

Yakima has Sunday off, but Monday, the Pippins will be hosting the Victoria HarbourCats in a three-game series.

The game starts at 7:05 p.m., pregame's at 6:55. Listen live on 1460 ESPN Yakima.