Emeralds Drop 2nd Straight to Everett

The Eugene Emeralds dropped game 2 against the Everett AquaSox by a final score of 6-5 in 10 innings. The Emeralds record is now 64-64 on the season.

It was a back-and-forth ballgame but the Emeralds weren’t quite able to close it out in extra innings. The Emeralds did jump out to an early lead tonight. Grant McCray drew a walk and was able to steal 2nd base. He advanced into 3rd base on a wild pitch and Carter Howell hit into a groundout to give the Emeralds a 1-0 lead. It wouldn’t last long however as Everett claimed the lead in the bottom of the 1st. Cole Young and Harry Ford both drew a walk to start the bottom of the 1st and Gabriel Gonzalez hit his 9th home run of the season to give the AquaSox a 3-1 lead after the 1st inning.

In the 3rd inning, Damon Dues doubled and eventually came home to score on a wild pitch. In that same inning Grant McCray drew a walk and stole another base. With the stolen base in the 3rd inning, McCray now has 50 stolen bases on the season. In the bottom of the 3rd inning the AquaSox answered back with a run of their own. Hogan Windish led off the inning with a solo home run for his Northwest League leading 21st home run of the season.

In the top of the 5th the Emeralds were able to tie up the ballgame. Damon Dues started off the inning with a single and Grant McCray followed it up with a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Carter Howell then singled to score the 1st run of the inning. A couple of batters later, Zach Morgan, hit a sac-fly RBI to score McCray on the play and the game was tied up 4-4 after 5 innings.

The next few innings would settle down as both teams were scoreless through the 9th inning. The game was then sent to extra innings. McCray was the runner placed on 2nd base and he advanced into 3rd base on a passed ball. Carter Howell drew a walk to put runners on the corners and Aeverson Arteaga hit into a double-play but McCray came home to score to give Eugene the 5-4 lead.

In the bottom of the 10th inning Hogan Windish tied the game up to start the inning. He ripped a double down the 1st base line to tie up the game. Ben Ramirez hit into a groundout and Windish had to stay at 2nd base. Walking Cabrera also hit into a ground ball but Windish was able to advance into 3rd base. With two outs and a runner at 3rd, James Parker was able to walk the game off on an RBI-Single that hit off the wall in left field to give the AquaSox the 6-5 victory in extra innings.

It was a tough night for Eugene, but they’ve been right there in both games through the first 2 games of this series. They’ll look to put a win on the board in tomorrow night’s game. Daniel Blair will be on the mound for Eugene. First pitch is set for 7:05 P.M.