Vancouver Shuts Out Eugene as Ems Slide Continues

Another day at the ballpark and another loss for the Eugene Emeralds, as Vancouver picked up a 4-0 win while moving Eugene's losing streak to six games.

It was a "nooner at the Nat" this afternoon as the Canadians held a day game against the Ems in front of a packed house on a beautiful, sunny Vancouver afternoon. The Canadians opened the scoring first as Ems starting pitcher Bryan Verbitsky, looking for his first win of the season despite posting a 2.08 ERA in six starts leading up to today, had trouble finding the strike zone and the Ems defense behind him struggled for the second straight evening. The Canadians took advantage of a trio of singles, a walk, sac bunt, and a throwing error by third baseman Chase Jensen by scoring three runs in the bottom of the second to take an early 3-0 lead.

The Canadians would tack on one more run in the bottom of the fourth, extending their lead to 4-0 after a Christian Vasquez single drove in Jordan Aktinson, who had already started the inning with a leadoff single.

That was more than enough run support Canadians starting pitcher Colton Turner needed, who had also had fallen upon some bad luck on the season sporting a 1-3 record coming into the afternoon despite posting a 2.94 ERA. Turner labored at times but finished the afternoon with a solid stat line of four hits, no walks, five strikeouts, and no runs allowed over the course of five innings pitched.

The Ems had few opportunities to cash in runs but failed to capitalize on any of them, going a combined 0-6 at the plate with runners in scoring position. Wytnon Bernard provided one of the few bright spots for the Ems at the plate going 2-4 with a pair of singles and a stolen base, his second on the season.

But the story this afternoon was all about the Canadians as the shutout win over the Ems puts them just 1.5 games behind first place Everett, with the AquaSox still to play this evening. Right fielder Brenden Kalfus finished a perfect 4-4 at the plate with a run scored while every member of the Canadians lineup either reached base safely at least once or drove in a run.

The Ems will have plenty of time to try and rebound after today's afternoon game, as the two sides will face off again tomorrow evening at 7:05pm at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver. You can catch all of tomorrow's action on 95.3FM The Score, EmeraldsBaseball.com, or on the Ems smart phone app.