The Cowlitz Black Bears will visit the Yakima Valley Pippins this week to begin their final road trip before the West Coast League All-Star break. The Black Bears are coming off a tough home series against the Springfield Drifters.
The Black Bears fell in two of their three games against the Drifters this weekend at David Story Field. The Black Bears only had one run through the first twenty-one innings of play, until the offense started cooking in the bottom of the fourth inning. Rowan Kelly got the Bears rolling with a lead-off base hit up the middle which was the first of five consecutive singles to center field for Cowlitz. The Black Bears put up back-to-back four-run innings in the fourth and the fifth. It followed up with a run in the sixth inning and punctuated with a two-run 377-foot home run to right field from Sergio DeCello (Purdue) to make it an 11-3 Black Bears lead. Springfield picked up a run in the eighth inning to bring the Drifters within eight runs, but the Black Bears slugged their way to an 11-3 series finale victory to avoid a season sweep to Springfield. The Drifters won the season series 5-1 over the Black Bears, but Sunday’s win capped off a seven-game-in-six-day stretch for Cowlitz.
The Black Bears will head to Yakima with an opportunity to clinch the season series with a single victory or sweep it all together with three wins. Cowlitz took three games from the Pippins two weekends ago by margins of 6-2, 5-1, and 10-2. The Black Bears will begin another extended road trip, traveling to Ridgefield to meet the Raptors next weekend before returning to David Story Field for an 10-game home stand on Tuesday, July 9 – Sunday, July 21.
The Black Bears-Pippins series will begin on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Yakima County Stadium in Yakima, WA. Game 2 will be on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. The series finale will start at 12:05 p.m. on Thursday. For more information about upcoming games, stats, or tickets, follow us on social media: X (Twitter) (@CowlitzBBears), Facebook, and Instagram (@cowlitzblackbears). To watch, listen live, or view the 2024 promotional schedule, go to our website cowlitzblackbears.com.