Pippins Veto Senators, 10-1

The Yakima Valley Pippins scored fast and furious against the Thurston County Senators at the Orchard with great pitching led by Dan Gentner. When all the votes were counted, it was Pippins 10, Senators 1.

Three was the magic number in the third inning when the Pippins scored three on a homer by Vince Hernandez, then it was back-to-back triples from J.C. Snyder and Troy LaBrie. Ryan Yamane had an RBI single and the Pippins got another run on a wild pitch to take a 7-0 lead.

The fifth inning the Senators got on the scoreboard with an RBI single, but the Pippins matched that with a sacrifice fly from Laz Villa to make it 8-1. The final scoring for the Pippins was in the eighth on a two-run double by Mitch Skaggs.

Pippins are now 21-12 in West Coast League play and 25-14 overall. That puts them four games ahead of the Walla Walla Sweets in the East Division.

The Pippins will host their division rivals, the Wenatchee AppleSox -- who are five games behind -- for a three-game series beginning tonight. First pitch is at 7:05 and pregame's at 6:55 on 1460 ESPN Yakima.