Hawks' Hampson extends torrid start

Garrett Hampson is finding that the experience he gained in the Big West Conference is paying off in the professional ranks.

The Rockies' third-round pick went 3-for-5 and scored a run to extend his hitting streak to seven games on Saturday night in Class A Short Season Boise's 8-6 loss to Hillsboro at Memorial Stadium. 

It was the fourth multi-hit game during the streak for Hampson, who leads the Northwest League with a .400 batting average.

The Long Beach State product singled leading off the bottom of the first inning but was caught stealing second. He singled to right field leading off the third, struck out in the fifth and singled to right and scored in the seventh.

"I felt good. I was getting some mistake pitches up in the zone that I look to hit up the middle and, fortunately, they found holes," Hampson said.

"It definitely nice to get off to a good start because it's human nature to [panic] and think you have to play catchup if you have a couple bad games to start the year. I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can and just hit the ball hard somewhere. I'm just looking for pitches up in the zone and in the middle of the plate, especially in fastball counts."

The 21-year-old shortstop has multiple hits in four of his last five contests and ranks second in the league with a 1.024 OPS. He said he's learned that playing at Long Beach State, where he hit .303 in 174 games, has helped ease the transition to the Northwest League.

"Pitchers in this league, especially, they're attacking with their fastballs," Hampson said. "Most of them have that good fastball. I've noticed that they use it a lot and they'll throw it in [all counts] and when they need to. There's not a lot of cross-count pitches.

"College pitching is much different, especially West Coast-style. They love to cross up the count and throw changeups on 2-0 and all that good stuff and it just keeps you off-balance. Here, the pitchers trust their fastballs because that's what got them here, that's what go them drafted. ... I'm just looking to be on time with the fastball and putting a good swing on it. It's a part of taking each pitch at a time."

Wilkyns Jimenez went 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for Boise, which got two hits and three RBIs from Daniel Suero.

Hawks starter Michael Zimmerman (0-4) gave up eight runs -- two earned -- on nine hits and six walks over six innings.

Anfernee Benitez (2-2) gave up two runs on eight hits and a walk with five strikeouts in five innings for the win. D-backs ninth-round pick Tommy Eveld fanned one to close a perfect ninth and earn his first professional save.

Josh Anderson and Stephen Smith both went 2-for-3 and scored twice for Hillsboro.