The Bellingham Bells fell to the Yakima Valley Pippins by a final score of 6-3. The Bells scored all of their runs in the 2nd, and the Pippins scored all six in the 3rd.

Bellingham jumped on top with a 3-run 2nd inning. Charlie Saum reached on a one-out walk, and AJ Davis reached on a two-out error. Malakhi Knight scored both of them on an RBI single, and Emilio Corona put runners at the corners with a single. Knight ended up scoring on a delayed steal attempt, but the inning ended after Corona was tagged out on the play.

The Pippins answered in the bottom of the 3rd off of starter Zack Simon (2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K). The first three batters reached on two singles and an error. Simon allowed one run to score on an RBI single, and hit a batter with the bases loaded to score the second. He was then relieved by Ryan Beitel. Beitel struck out the first batter, but then surrendered the 3-2 lead on a 2-RBI single from Michael Carpentier Jr. Blake Dickman added an RBI single to make it 5-3, and Mason Marenco scored one on an RBI groundout. After 3, the Bells trailed 6-3.

The Bells loaded the bases in the 6th and got a runner to second in the 7th, but were unable to cut into the lead for the rest of the game. Beitel finished with a final line of 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, and Kai Francis finished the game while posting a line of 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Six different Bells recorded a hit, with Knight and Cody Schrier recording 2-hit games. The Bells drew three walks, struck out seven times and left eight runners on base.

Bellingham will take on the Pippins in a decisive Game 3 tomorrow evening at 7:05 PM. You can follow the action on Twitter @BellsPBP or on Instagram @BhamBells. The winner of tomorrow’s game will take on the Corvallis Knights in the championship, who defeated the Ridgefield Raptors 2-0 in the WCL South Divisional Series.