The Kelowna Falcons opened a West Coast League doubleheader Saturday with a 5-1 win over the Bellingham Bells, before dropping the second game by a 10-4 score to earn the split at Joe Martin Field.
The first game of the doubleheader saw Jared Akin toss a seven-inning complete game while Garret Kelly and Matt Land each collected a pair of RBI’s to push the Falcons to a win over the Bells.
FALCONS WIN!!
— Kelowna Falcons (@kelownafalcons) August 5, 2018
A complete seven-inning effort from Jared Akin as well as a home run from @gkelly_9 helps Kelowna to a 5-1 win in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader!#BaseballLivesHere #WCL pic.twitter.com/kPtP9U1Fux
Kelly got the Falcons on the board with a solo home run in the 2nd inning, his second big fly of the season, before Bellingham tied the game in the 3rd inning with an RBI single from Matt McLain for a 1-1 tie ballgame.
The Falcons jumped ahead for the second, and final time, in the game in the 4th inning with three runs, beginning with a Jake Fischer hit by pitch with the bases loaded to put Kelowna ahead 2-1.
Matt Land followed that up with a two-run double down the first base line to plate a pair and give the Falcons a 4-1 before a Kelly RBI single in the 5th closed out the scoring in the game and was more than enough for Akin to work with.
Akin went all seven innings, allowing just one run on two hits for his 4th victory of the season while Nick Nastrini was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs (three of them earned) on four hits with five strikeouts.
In the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday, a five-run 4th inning and scoring in five of the six innings helped the Bells to their first win of the series as they defeated the Falcons by a 10-4 score.
Kelowna opened the scoring the game with a strong first inning as a pair of walks put runners on the corners for Dan Pruitt, who continued his hot series with an RBI single to left to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead.
Bellingham scored a run in each of the first five innings of play, however, beginning with an RBI single from Zach Needham in the 1st inning and a sacrifice fly from Landen Kimbro to take a 2-1 lead.
Bellingham sent 10 batters to the plate in the 4th inning, ahead by a 3-1 score, with the big hit in the inning being a three-run, bases clearing double from Matt James to put Bellingham ahead 8-3.
Dylan Orick cashed in on a bases loaded walk before Bellingham scored twice in the bottom half of the 5th inning to make the score 10-4, the eventual final score in the ballgame.
The Falcons (26-24/12-12) close out their six-game road trip and four-game series against the Bellingham Bells (34-19/16-11) at Joe Martin Field on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 3:05 PM on the Falcons Broadcast Network with the Voice of the Falcons, Trevor Miller.
To report a typo, email: edit@kelownacapnews.com.
<>@KelownaCapNews
newstips@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.