Union-Bulletin

WALLA WALLA - A pair of baseball streaks remained intact for two West Coast League East Division teams Wednesday night at Borleske Stadium.

Visiting Kelowna extended its winning streak to five games and in the process handed the Walla Walla Sweets their fourth straight loss.

The Falcons downed Walla Walla, 7-4, in the middle game of their three-game series - which ends today at 1:05 p.m.

Kelowna upped its mark to 15-17 and dropped the Sweets to 8-20.

Walla Walla came out swinging in the bottom of the first inning. Elliot Stewart and Andy Matthews delivered RBI singles that gave the Sweets a 2-0 lead.

Stewart's run batted in increased his team-leading total to 11.

The Sweets doubled their advantage in the fourth on a two-run, two-base hit to right field off the bat of Chris Dupart.

Unfortunately for Walla Walla, it would collect just three more hits and advance only one more runner as far as second base the remainder of the game.

Pitcher Zach Clanton, making his first start of the season for the Sweets, twirled a three-hit shutout through five innings before momentum shifted to the Falcons in the sixth.

With one out, Keegan Acker worked Clanton for a walk after falling behind in the count 0-and-2. One out later, Jesse Sawyer slashed the Walla Walla lead in half, 4-2, with his fifth home run of the year - a two-run blast over the left-center field wall.

"He was mixing his pitches and kept us off balance," Kelowna manager Kevin Frady said of Clanton's first five innings.

Kelowna took control of the contest after tallying five runs on as many hits in the seventh. Aaron Jones socked a two-RBI single to right that put a lid on the scoring.

Reyn Nagamine plated the first run - an unearned marker because of an error - with a double off Clanton and Ben Edelstein gave the Falcons a 5-4 edge with a run-producing single against reliever Brian Biagi.

The tying run crossed the plate moments before Edelstein's base knock on a passed ball.

"When you can battle through that early adversity, that's huge," Frady said. "That's what we did.

"It was a matter of time before our bats broke out," Frady said. "We wore Clanton down. I'm proud of my guys for battling."

Falcons' starter Brandon Creel lasted through six innings before giving way to Jacob Brown and Jordan Westra - who combined to hurl three stanzas of one-hit relief and strike out six.

Brown was credited with the win and Westra recorded his sixth save after pitching a scoreless ninth.

Clanton ended up with five strikeouts. He allowed five hits and four runs - three of which were earned.

"He gave us a heck of an effort," Walla Walla manager J.C. Biagi said. "He's been efficient. He works down in the zone.

"Offensively, we took advantage of hittable pitches early, (then) broke down in our approach," J.C. Biagi said. "You have to be disciplined to grind it out for nine innings and not take a pitch off."

Kelowna 000 002 500 - 7 9 0

Walla Walla 202 000 000 - 4 8 2

Creel, Brown (7), Westra (9) and Jones; Clanton, Biagi (7), Kerns (7), McLaughlin (9) and Stewart.

HR - Kelowna: Sawyer (5).

Hits - Kelowna: Sawyer 2, Jones 2, Edelstein 2, Nagamine, Scott, Acker; Walla Walla: Holt 2, Ramirez, Stewart, Matthews, Dupart, Williams, Kuntz.