By: Jacob Archer
PASCO, WA — It was a night in the history book for the Emeralds as they scored 20 runs in a 20-5 victory over the Tri-City Dust Devils to open a 6-game series. The Ems tallied 20 hits and drew 13 walks in tonight’s offensive onslaught. The Emeralds season high in runs heading into tonight was 12 runs, but they were able to eclipse that mark in the 6th inning. It was a great all-around performance as all 9 batters were able to record a hit and also score a run. 7 of the 9 batters were able to also record an RBI and every batter drew a walk.
Typically with game stories I like to go inning by inning and recap what happened, but for tonight’s story I just want to highlight some of the incredible performances. The Ems were able to tally 8 runs in the first 3 innings to jump out to a massive lead. Diego Velasquez ended the night with 3 base hits and 6 RBI’s as well as 2 triples. He hit his first of the game in the 3rd inning to really blow the doors off of the game and it gave Eugene the early 8-2 lead.
While Velasquez was impressive with 4 RBI’s, it ended up not even being the most runs batted in by a single player in tonight’s game. Matt Higgins had 3 hits and drove home 5 runs. Most impressive for Higgins was the fact that in back-to-back innings he drove in a pair of runs without even swinging the bat. He drew walks with the bases loaded in both the 6th and the 7th inning. He did also have a couple of hits including a 9th inning double to score the 3 other runs. It was by far Higgins best night of the season.
Turner Hill as the leadoff man went 2-5 at the plate but had a stretch where he reached base safely in 4 straight plate appearances. He ended up scoring 3 runs and driving in 2. Only 5 of the Emeralds 20 hits tonight went for extra bases and 2 of those were doubles by Rodolfo Nolasco who doubled in the 1st inning to drive in the first run of the game. He ended up drawing a bases loaded walk for his 2nd RBI of the night.
Justin Wishkoski has been so solid in the middle part of the order for the Ems and he started out the game with an RBI-Single that scored a pair of runs. Wishkoski ended up scoring 3 times tonight and also drew 2 walks. Quinn McDaniel and Andrew Kachel were the last 2 Ems batters without hits heading into the 6th inning but McDaniel ended up hitting a single in the 6th and Kachel ended up recording a pair of base hits in the 7th and 8th inning to give every Ems batter a hit. Both of those 2 guys ended the night with 2 runs.
Zach Morgan put himself together a great day at the plate as he was 3rd on the team in RBI’s with 3. He had an RBI-Single, and RBI-groundout and in the 9th inning he drew a bases loaded walk to score the 19th run of the game for Eugene. To round out Eugene’s lineup was Tanner O’Tremba who ended the game with 3 hits and 3 runs while driving in a run in the 3rd inning.
While it’s hard for games to have drama in the late innings when you have a 15 run lead, this game somehow even possessed that. The bases were loaded for pinch-hitter Garrett Frechette who came into the game for Tanner O’Tremba. The Emeralds were sitting at 19 runs and 19 hits and were down to their final strike of the 9th inning. Frechette was able to rip a single out to right field to drive in the run and it gave the Emeralds their 20th and final run of the game. You know it is just your night when even the pinch-hitter tallies a base hit to give all 10 Ems batters a base knock.
You can’t forget about the pitching who had a solid night on the mound. Will Bednar made his 2nd start for Eugene and struck out 5 batters while allowing 2 runs in 2 innings. Hunter Dula gave up 1 hit in 1 inning and also struck out a batter. Hayden Wynja earned the win tonight as he pitched the final 6 innings and gave up 4 hits and 3 runs while striking out 6. The numbers are a bit deceiving for Wynja, who at one point tonight was able to retire 12 straight Dust Devil batters en route to his 3rd victory of the season.
It was the most runs the Emeralds had scored in a game since 2021 which funnily enough came against the Dust Devils. It’s a night that I’m sure that players won’t forget about for a long long time as everything seemed to come up green in tonight’s victory.
The road trip is still far from over as the Emeralds have 5 more games here in Pasco, Washington. They’ll be back in action tomorrow night with Jack Choate on the mound for the Emeralds. First pitch is set for 6:30 P.M.
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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