Eugene's Walk-Off Winner Caps Volcanoes
Eugene, OR - A wild pitch scored the first run of the game and the game would follow suit with a wild, back-and-forth affair that the Ems eventually pulled out and walked-off a 4-3 victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in front of 4,192 at PK Park on Thursday.
Eugene, OR - A wild pitch scored the first run of the game and the game would follow suit with a wild, back-and-forth affair that the Ems eventually pulled out and walked-off a 4-3 victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in front of 4,192 at PK Park on Thursday.
After giving up the lead in the top of the ninth inning for the second time this homestand, the Ems (34-33, 13-16) did not make their fans wait long to end the game.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jose Gonzalez smacked a ball to deep left center and neither Salem-Keizer (28-39, 12-17) outfield could stop it from rolling to the wall or Gonzalez from getting to third with a triple.
Another shaky first inning for the Emeralds saw a one-out walk to Johnson. Johnson stole second before another walk to
Camargo settled after that and pitched well enough to get the win, going six innnigs and giving up just two runs on four hits and two walks with a career-high nine strikeouts.
The Ems tied and took the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth after
Salem-Keizer struck back in the sixth when, with Johnson and Baldwin at second and first and no one out, Amaya fired the ball to second on a double steal attempt. Johnson saw the opportunity and never stopped running, crossing the plate and tying the game at 2-2.
Eugene briefly held the lead in the eighth after
Ricky Tyler Thomas relieved Camargo in the seventh and two innings on one-hit ball, striking out a pair and was in line for the win going into the ninth.
The finale between these two teams comes on Friday for a championship puzzle giveaway for the first 1,000 fans through the Homeplate gate. Game starts at 7:05 PM with gates opening at 6 PM. Tickets can be purchased at emeraldsbaseball.com or by calling the box office at 541-342-5367.