Pippins Preview: June 9 vs. Wenatchee

The Pippins go for their first sweep of the 2019 season today against the Wenatchee AppleSox, after clinching the home-opening three game series with an 8-3 win on Saturday. Left-hander Dylan Barkley will make his second start of the season for the Pippins, and will be opposed by right-hander Keegan Romig, from Yakima Valley College, for Wenatchee. First pitch is set for 6:05 PM PT, and live audio and video coverage with Miles Klotz will begin at 5:50 PM at pippinsbaseball.com/live.

Full Game Notes

PIPPINS CLINCH WENATCHEE SERIES WITH WIN: The Pippins clinched their second consecutive series win with an 8-3 victory over Wenatchee on Saturday night, and their second straight win overall. After the Pippins scored 4 runs in the first inning, capped by a two-run single from Tyler Pittman, Wenatchee clawed back with runs in the third and fourth to make it a one-run game. Cameron Liss entered from the bullpen for the Pippins and did not allow a run over 4.1 innings, and the offense posted another 4-run inning in the 6th, leading to the 5-run victory. Nick Brown closed it out with a scoreless ninth.

FOR THE PIPPINS: Left-hander Dylan Barkley makes his second start of the summer on Sunday as the Pippins begin their second turn through the rotation. The 5-foot-11, 155-pound southpaw from Montana State-Billings produced a quality start on Opening Day, which to date has been the only quality start of the season for the Pippins. He went 6-plus innings in that start, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and 6 strikeouts without walking a batter.

FOR THE APPLESOX: Right-hander Keegan Romig will make his AppleSox debut by getting the start on Sunday as the AppleSox look to avoid a sweep. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound righty grew up in Leavenworth, Washington, a suburb of Wenatchee, and attended Wenatchee High School. This spring, he played under AppleSox head coach Kyle Krustangel at Yakima Valley College, where he posted a 2.05 ERA and 6-2 record in 8 games, striking out 49 batters and walking 17 in 44 innings.

LOOKING FOR THE HOME SWEEP: With a win, the Pippins will complete the sweep of the AppleSox, which would be their first sweep of Wenatchee since taking all 3 from the AppleSox from July 19 to July 21, 2017. It would also be the first sweep of a home-opening series since the Pippins swept the Klamath Falls Gems to open up the 2015 season at Yakima County Stadium. The last series sweep the Pippins had overall came in 2018, when the Pippins swept Port Angeles in a 3-game set at home in July.

MOMENTUM CARRIES: Zach Lew and Daniel Cipriano, both of whom finished off their college seasons strong, have carried over positive momentum into the start of the summer season. Cipriano, who wrapped up a triple crown-winning spring at Montana State-Billings, added 2 more hits on Saturday, his 4th multi-hit game so far this season. Lew, who started Cal State Fullerton’s last 11 games in the spring, and hit .429 in that stretch, had his 2nd 3-hit game of the summer last night, and is now hitting .409 on the summer with 5 RBIs in his first five games.

LEFT SIDE DRIVES THEM HOME: The left side of the Pippins’ infield, third baseman Zach Lew and shortstop Owen Cobb, has been key in the Pippins’ early hot start on offense. Both drove in a run apiece last night to bring their season RBI totals up to 5 each, tied for 2nd in the West Coast League (Damiano Palmegiani, Port Angeles, 9). Daniel Cipriano, on the right side of the Pippins infield at first base, sits just behind the two youngsters with 4 RBIs, although he was held with a run driven in on Saturday.

ODDS & ENDS: Every batter in the Pippins lineup had at least one base hit on Saturday, the first time this season that has happened…for the second straight game, the Pippins set a season-low in strikeouts at the plate, with 7…RHP Nick Brown has allowed 1 hit over his first 4.2 relief innings, for an opponent’s batting average of .071…Joey Magrisi is tied for the WCL lead in strikeouts, with 10…the Pippins have the league’s best team ERA at 2.05.

By Miles Klotz

June 9, 2019