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Wilson Wows The Home Crowd In 5-2 Monarcas Victory

Kilian kills it (lame pun, we know, but it’s true) and Wilson excels both at the plate and on the diamond as Eugene’s win percentage at PK Park in 2021 improves to a very decent .750
By Alex Stimson
May 17, 2021

Will Wilson is good, and so is Caleb Kilian. That’s it, that’s the lede. The Eugene Emeralds (8-4) wrapped their first stretch of games at PK Park since 2019 on a heckuva high note on Sunday evening, downing the Hillsboro Hops (5-7) by a final of 5-2 behind another solid

Will Wilson is good, and so is Caleb Kilian. That’s it, that’s the lede.

The Eugene Emeralds (8-4) wrapped their first stretch of games at PK Park since 2019 on a heckuva high note on Sunday evening, downing the Hillsboro Hops (5-7) by a final of 5-2 behind another solid outing from RHP Caleb Kilian and another all-around excellent performance from Wilson.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Kilian had the headlines heading into the day as the reigning High-A West Pitcher of the Week took the mound for the third time this season and the first time at PK Park.

For Emeralds fans seeing him for the first time and perhaps wondering what to expect, Kilian wasted little time in showing them as retired eleven on Hillsboro’s first twelve batters en route to firing 5.2 innings and allowing just four hits, two earned runs, and one walk (the very first walk he has issued this season, ah-thank-you) while striking out eight Hops batters.

The first free pass issued by Kilian this season came with two outs in the sixth inning, snapping a streak of base-on-balls-free baseball from Kilian at 14.2 innings.

At the plate, the Emeralds – playing as Los Monarcas de Eugene as part of MiLB’s Copa de la Diversión initiative – sent seven batters to the plate in the first frame of the game, and three of them came home to score.

After back-to-back singles from Patrick Bailey and Wilson, Diego Rincones skied a fly ball to right that proved deep enough to score the Emeralds catcher and give the Ems the game’s first lead.

Tyler Fitzgerald singled in the ensuing at-bat, and then Ismael Munguia followed by stroking a double to deep right-center field that plated both Wilson and Fitzgerald to give Eugene a 3-0 advantage after just one inning.

Kilian held the Hops scoreless until the sixth when they plated a pair of runs to cut the Eugene lead to just one run, but that proved to be as close as they got as three pitchers out of the ‘pen – Nick Avila, Solomon Bates, and John Russell – combined to fire 3.1 innings of scoreless ball while tallying three strikeouts between them.

Just for good measure, the Emeralds added a little cushion to their lead in the eighth thanks to one of the more electric sacrifice flies you’ll see.

With Bailey on third and Wilson on second, Sean Roby skied a playable fly ball to right that looked deep enough to score Bailey and push the Eugene lead back to two. It ended up being well deep enough to push the lead to two, but Will Wilson was not content with a mere two-run advantage. A decently errant throw from Hops right fielder Cam Coursey and some heads-up baserunning by Wilson saw him scamper home on the heels of Bailey to make it a 5-2 ballgame with three outs to go.

Russell entered in the ninth to get those final three outs, and fittingly enough he got some highlight-reel help from Wilson to do exactly that as Wilson turned a spectacular 4-3 double play to end the game and seal the 5-2 victory.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

  • Will Wilson – 2B: Wilson is becoming a regular in this part of the game recaps, and for good reason. Yes, we wrote that exact same first sentence last night, too, but c’mon, can you argue with us? Can you? You can’t. His hit streak to start the season reached ten on Sunday night after going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. His .415 average leads the league by 30 points (next closest: Everett’s Jack Larsen at .385).
  • Caleb Kilian – RHP: Kilian may have finally issued a walk and thus perhaps shown that he is, maybe, possibly human, but don’t let that distract you from what has been his third consecutive very solid outing to start the season. Following Sunday’s win, Kilian leads the High-A West in strikeouts (22), is second in WHIP (0.61), and is fourth in both opponent average (.139) and ERA (1.84).

WHAT’S NEXT: Eugene will hit the road during the team’s off day on Monday as they travel back to Eastern Washington, this time to face off against the Tri-City Dust Devils. The Ems and Devils kick off a six-game set on Tuesday evening at 6:35pm PST. You can can listen live to all the action on 95.3FM The Score, via MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.

The Emeralds return home the following week when they will start a six-game series against the Spokane Indians on May 25. Information regarding tickets to Emeralds home games is available at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.

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