The Eugene Emeralds dropped the series finale to the Spokane Indians by a final score of 6-5. Even after dropping the finale, the Emeralds still take the series win against Spokane after winning 4 of the 6 games. The Emeralds record now sits at 49-47 on the season and 15-15 in the 2nd half.
The Emeralds struck first in tonight’s ballgame. Luis Toribio started off the 2nd inning with a base hit. That brought up Zach Morgan to the plate. Morgan got a hold of the baseball and sent it out to deep left-center field. Spokane’s center fielder and left fielder were both hustling to get to the baseball and collided at the catch point. They both went down and Morgan was able to hustle around the base path for the inside the park home run. It was a scary sight with the two players colliding, but both players were alright after they got checked out by the team’s trainers. It was a great moment for Morgan and it gave Eugene the 2-0 lead through the first two innings in the series finale.
In the top of the 4th Spokane was able to tie the ballgame up. Sterlin Thompson and Jamari Baylor were on 2nd and 3rd base. Ben Sems hit what should’ve been a lineout to left field, but Carter Williams wasn’t able to hang onto the baseball and both Thompson and Baylor were able to come home and score on the play. Williams was able to recover and had a great throw to 3rd base. Nic Kent was trying to go 1st to 3rd on the play but Wiliams just made a better defensive game. The ballgame was all tied up at 2 runs apiece through the first 4 innings.
In the bottom of the 7th inning the Emeralds were able to reclaim the lead. Matt Higgins was on base and Jared Dupere ripped his 17th double of the season out to center field to give Eugene the 3-2 lead. The Emeralds were hoping to keep Spokane scoreless the rest of the way but in the top of the 9th inning and with 1 out, Ryan Ritter hit his 4th home run of the season to tie the ballgame up at 3-3. In the bottom of the 9th the Emeralds weren’t able to get anything going and the ballgame was heading to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th Juan Guerrero hit a single out to right field that scored Braiden Ward on the play. Thankfully for Eugene they were able to strand the two runners on base to keep the game within just 1 run. In the home half of the 10th Zach Morgan hit a linedrive single to center field and Jared Dupere scored on the play and we were tied up once again in the ballgame and heading to the 11th inning.
In the top of the 11th Ben Sems got the scoring started for Spokane. He singled to right field and Nic Kent was able to score. Ryan Ritter was also able to advance to 2nd base on the play. That brought up Ronaiker Palma to the plate who hit a shot down the 1st base line for a double. Ritter came home to score on the play and Spokane held the 6-4 lead. Eugene was able to strand a pair of runners on 2nd and 3rd to give themselves a chance in the ballgame.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, it started off with a balk that put Thomas Gavello on 3rd base. Ghordy Santos hit a towering shot to center field and Gavello was able to come home and score on the play. Unfortunately for Eugene the next two batters weren’t able to reach base and they fell to the Spokane Indians by a final score of 6-5 in 11 innings.
After winning the first 4 games of the series, the Emeralds dropped the last two games this weekend. It still is a series victory for the Emeralds, and they were able to make up a ton of ground in the Northwest League. They sit just 1 game behind the Everett Aquasox.
It’ll be an off-day tomorrow for Eugene before heading to Pasco Washington to start a 6-game series against the Tri-City Dust Devils. Game 1 of the series will be on Tuesday night with the first pitch set for 7:05 P.M at Gesa Stadium.
