The Kelowna Falcons are headed to the West Coast League playoffs thanks to a five-game winning streak to end the regular season including an impressive 15-4 win in Port Angeles on Wednesday night to clinch.

Round 1 of the WCL postseason will open at Elks Stadium at 6:35 p.m. on Friday in a best-of-three series against the North Division’s and the league’s top seed, the Wenatchee Applesox. The Falcons-Applesox playoff history is extensive, and this latest installment should be  entertaining.

The Falcons (30-24) finished the regular season 10 games back of the Sox (39-13) in the standings and are the fourth seed in the North Division coming into the weekend. 

Game 2 and Game 3 (if necessary), go Saturday and Sunday in Washington at Paul Thomas Stadium.

The two clubs met six times during the regular season with the Falcons managing just one win. In the three games at Elks Stadium the Applesox recorded the sweep and outscored the home side 27-9. The lone Falcons win was a 5-2 victory in Wenatchee.

Coming into the weekend playoff the Falcons have won five straight and have a team batting average of .264. On Wednesday night the power was on display with three home runs including a pair of grand slams. The club finished with 34 homers this season and will need to find that magic in this playoff series against the top ERA this summer, a 3.37 turned in by the Sox staff. 

Ashton Graff-Rowe, Jadin Moreno and Rees Kozar have been hot as of late for Kelowna and are hoping to continue that trend.

The Applesox enter the playoffs on a seven-game winning streak but had their final two home games cancelled this week due to the heavy smoke from the wildfires in the region. This is also a concern this weekend in both Kelowna and Wenatchee with both teams hoping conditions improve.

This series features two of the three top pitching staffs in the WCL, the Sox with the best ERA and 464 strikeouts while the Falcons own the third best at 4.16 with 388 Ks.

Tickets for Friday’s game are available on the Falcons ticket page at kelownafalcons.com as well as at the front gate box office at Elks an hour before opening pitch.