By: Jacob Archer
The Emeralds for the 4th straight night put together a fantastic team performance and defeated the Everett AquaSox by a final score of 7-5. The Emeralds have now won 4 games in a row in Everett and they move to 6-1 on the season. With the victory tonight it ensures that the Emeralds will leave town with a series victory, and they’ll now have their eyes set on a series sweep this weekend if they can take the final two games.
For the 3rd straight game the Emeralds were able to put up at least 3 runs in the 1st inning. Diego Velasquez has been an on-base machine all week and he led the game off with a leadoff single. Jack Payton followed it up with a single and Matt Higgins was able to draw a walk to load up the bases. Zach Morgan followed it up by ripping a single to the outfield that scored a pair of runs and Andrew Kachel hit a single later in the inning to give the Ems the 3-run lead.
The Ems lead wouldn’t last long however as in the bottom of the 1st inning Josh Hood ripped a solo home run to get the AquaSox on the board. The bottom of the 2nd spelled trouble for the Ems, as Bill Knight started off the inning with a leadoff homer. The AquaSox were able to get a pair of runners on later in the inning and with two-outs the frogs leadoff hitter, Brock Rodden, blasted a 3-run home run to give Everett the 5-3 lead.
The Emeralds were able to settle in and the bullpen ended up turning in one of the most dominant efforts you’ll see this season. Hayden Wynja, the Ems starter, gave up a single in the 3rd before exiting the game after the inning. The single in the 3rd inning turned out to be the AquaSox’s last hit off the ballgame.The Emeralds bullpen was near perfect the rest of the way, as three pitchers combined to throw six hitless innings and didn’t give up a single run. Daniel Blair pitched the 4th and 5th inning and struck out two batters. Seth Corry pitched the next 2.1 innings and struck out 2 batters en route to his first victory of the season and Cam Cotter came in to close things out and recorded a 5-out save with 3 strikeouts. Those 3 pitchers were on their A-game tonight and helped Eugene win it’s 4th straight.
Even though the Emeralds were trailing into the later part of this game, it never felt like they were out of it. They scored a run in the 6th inning on a fielder’s choice that scored Quinn McDaniel on the play to cut the deficit to just one run. In the 7th inning the Emeralds were able to tie up the game. Diego Velasquez started off the inning with a walk and Scott Bandura was able to rope a triple into the outfield. It was a close play at the plate but Velasquez was able to touch home before the tag was applied to tie up the game.
In the 8th inning is where things got interesting quickly. There were two outs and with two strikes Justin Wishkoski hit a slow ground ball and the frogs shortstop Josh Hood. He had to charge the ball and he fired it over to first and sent it past the outstretched glove of the 1st baseman. He was then able to advance into 2nd base on the play. With two-outs that brought up Turner Hill to the plate who was the Emeralds ninth hitter in the lineup and was 0-3 on the day. On the very first pitch he saw in the at bat he was able to crush the ball over the left field wall for a 2-run go-ahead home run. The entire team was loving it and it proved to be the nail in the coffin in tonight’s game.
Cotter threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning and the Emeralds were able to take the 4th game of the series. They’ll now look ahead to a potential series sweep on the first road trip of the season. First pitch is set for 7:05 P.M. tomorrow.
The Eugene Emeralds are the High-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants. The Eugene Emeralds are dedicated to providing the best in family entertainment and creating a fun, safe environment for everyone to enjoy watching a baseball game. For more information, please visit our website at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or call the Emeralds front office at 541-342-5367. • Emeraldsbaseball.com • Facebook.com/EugeneEmeraldsfanpage • Twitter.com/EugeneEmeralds
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