The Merchants (playing as the San Francsico Seals) were up 3-1 early in their first ever meeting with the Apple Sox, but shaky relief pitching was the story tonight - as the Merchants lost their game against the West Coast League (WCL) team from Wenatchee, Washington 7-3.

Blaze Hastings started the game for the Merchants. The sophomore from Seminole State was on point and was cruising through 5 innings - only surrendering one unearned run and striking out 5. The score after 5 was tied at 1-1. The Merchants manufactured their run in the 2nd inning. After Ryan Myers (Washington State) and Jake Pavlosky (Clark University) singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd, they moved up on a passed ball. Myers was driven in by Paul Kunst (University of San Diego) to make the score 1-0. The Apple Sox came back with an unearned run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score at 1-1. It stayed that way until the 6th.

In the top of the 6th, the Merchants jumped on the borad again to take the lead. Dakota Conners (Cal State East Bay) and Myers hit back to back singles to put runners on 1st and 2nd. With two outs, Marcus Williams (Cal State East Bay) came up clutch for the Merchants and smacked a double deep into the left center field gap - good for 2 RBI's and a 3-1 lead.

The Apple Sox came up in the bottom of the 6th looking to come right back at the visitors. Hastings surrendered a single and a double to start off the inning. He walked the next batter to load the bases. He then proceeded to hit Ryan Murkle - which brought in a run to make it 3-2 in favor of the Merchants. Trey Jeans (Seminole State) came in to relieve Hastings and proceeded to walk two straight hitters to make the score 4-3. He then gave up a single to leadoff hitter Shane Martinez that scored two runs to bring the score to 6-3. Miguel Villafane then came in to relieve Jeans. He promptly threw a wild pitch that surrendered another run. Villafane would hold the Apple Sox down the rest of the inning, but the damage had already been done. The Merchants went into the bottom half of that inning with a 3-1 lead, and came out of it with a 7-3 deficit. Niether team scored any more runs over the course of the remainder of the game.

Ryan Myers - 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored

Marcus Williams - 1 for 4 with a 2B and an RBI

Paul Kunst - 3 for 4 with 1 RBI

Dakota Conners - 2 for 4 with a run scored

The Merchants were supposed to play a three game set against the Apple Sox, but game two will be cancelled because of heavy rain in the area. The next game vs. Wenatchee is Sunday (Father's Day) at 1pm.