Chris Micheles and Bellingham’s pitching staff outlasted Wenatchee starter Curtis Bafus and the AppleSox pitching staff in a 2-0 victory to take home the series and season victory.
Head coach Bob Miller wanted to make Micheles comfortable in his first start for Bellingham. Miller paired Micheles with University of Washington teammate and catcher Michael Petrie and the tandem did not disappoint.
With Petrie calling the pitches behind the plate , Micheles was able to finish his day giving up just four hits, one walk, and striking out three hitters in his five innings of no-decision work.
Micheles was sharing a mound with Wenatchee pitcher Bafus, who was having a great day on the mound. After Friday night’s 13-1 blowout victory, Bellingham found themselves right in the thick of a pitcher’s duel.
Both pitchers ran into a little bit of trouble in their fifth inning of work. The top of the fifth started off with a leadoff single followed by a fielder’s choice to get the lead runner. Wenatchee was able to get a slow hit ball between Zach Needham and Ernie Yake on the left side of the infield.
However, with a pair of runners aboard and one-out, Landen Kimbro made a great stop at first base to knock down what would be the game’s first run. Kimbro’s only play was at first, and Micheles was able to strand the pair of AppleSox in scoring position by striking out the final batter he would face.
The Bells would make their own noise in the bottom half of the inning after Petrie and Connor Mack were aboard the base paths with back-to-back singles. Stoner would then take his second HBP for the team to load the bases. However, with one away, Bafus was able to escape the Bellingham threat with a ground out and a strikeout.
The Bells were finally able to crack the Bafus’ code in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kimbro led the inning off with his second base hit of the day. Petrie was able to join Kimbro on the bases after miscommunication on the Wenatchee infield allowed Bellingham’s catcher to reach first on the attempted sac-bunt.
Jordan Stoner was able to single home the first run of the inning on a sharp ground ball into left field, which forced a play at the plate. Petrie’s slide was perfect and knocked the ball arriving to the plate out of the catcher’s glove to plate the game’s first run. Yake followed suit with an RBI single of his own to give the Bells a 2-0 advantage late in the ballgame.
Those two runs would be the only of the contest, as the Bells claimed the series at home. The Bells, currently riding a four-game winning streak will wrap-up six consecutive games against the AppleSox on Sunday at 3:05 pm.
