The Bellingham Bells won a must win game against the Wenatchee AppleSox, 1-0, on June 28 at Joe Martin Field in Bellingham, Wash. Logan Degroot poked a base hit into right field to walk it off in the 11th inning. The Bells improved to 16-9 and are now only one game behind the division leading AppleSox with two games left in the first half of the WCL season.

The Bells now need the next two wins to win the North Division for the first half of the season and secure an automatic playoff berth. If the AppleSox take one of the final two games of this series, the Bells early playoff hopes will subside for the time being.

Tonight’s game was a textbook pitcher’s duel. The Bells starting pitcher, Tyler Van Dyke, went six innings in his second start of the season. Van Dyke allowed just two hits with four walks and four strikeouts. The Bells shutout would be continued by Nic Peterson for four innings where he allowed three hits and no walks with one strikeout. Lane Simonsen took over in the 11th inning with a runner on first and retired three straight to give his offense the chance to walk it off.

For the AppleSox, Evan Canfield went six deep in his start with three hits allowed and five total strikeouts. Stephen Hammergren pitched from the seventh to the 11th innings and would go down as the losing pitcher with the earned run scoring that was his responsibility in the 11th despite David James being the pitcher that allowed the run to score.

The Bells in the 11th inning faced Hammergren who was attempting to pitch his fifth inning of relief. After Jacob Mejia led off with a single, James would enter the game much like Simonsen did in the top half of the 11th to try and shut down the inning. Newly acquired Gavin Long would pinch run for Mejia at first and James would hit Colton Bower who was showing bunt. Gabe Henderson laid down a perfect bunt that stayed fair near the third base chalk and Henderson reached first without a throw. Logan Degroot came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit an opposite field single to right field and walked it off in his first home game as a Bellingham Bell.

The Bells as a team had six total hits. Nate Kirkpatrick extended his hitting streak to twelve games with a 1 for 5 night. Mejia went 1 for 4 and Long scored the run represented by Mejia’s single in the 11th. Henderson extended his own hitting streak to seven games with a 1 for 4 performance. Anthony Kodama had a 1 for 2 night with two walks. The player of the game was Logan Degroot who went 2 for 5 with the walk-off RBI. Degroot is committed to UCLA and just participated in the MLB’s Draft Combine. This was Degroot’s fourth game as a Bellingham Bell and his first time playing at Joe Martin Field.

Tomorrow night the Bells need another win as they need to win the next two games to win the North Division for the first half of the WCL season. If the Bells win out, they win the North Division. Tomorrow night’s game is at 6:35 p.m. so come support the Bellingham Bells and buy tickets at bellstickets.com. If you can’t make the game in person, be sure to follow the Bells on the WCL Live Streaming Site or on the Bells radio broadcast site, Mixlr.

Tonight’s game recap is presented by Everstrong Physical Therapy and Performance.