Series Ends On Sour Note As Ems Drop Finale

A classic tale of good news, bad news. Bad News: The Eugene Emeralds (19-11) dropped the finale of the six-game series against the Vancouver Canadians (17-13) by a final score of 7-3 on Sunday afternoon. GOOD NEWS: The Ems will head north still alone in first place as they prepare for a showdown with the AquaSox in Everett.

THE DETAILS:

• Winning Pitcher: Paxton Schultz (3-0, 2.08 ERA): 6.0 IP | 2 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 2 BB | 9 K

• Losing Pitcher: Aaron Phillips (1-2, 4.61 ERA): 4.0 IP | 10 H | 5 R | 4 ER | 0 BB | 3 K

• Save: Justin Maese (3): 2.0 IP | 1 H | 0 R | 0 ER | 2 BB | 5 K

• HR(s): Eugene: N/A | Vancouver: N/A

HOW IT HAPPENED: The first two innings of Sunday’s matchup started as it was billed: a quality pitching matchup between Eugene’s Aaron Phillips and Vancouver’s Paxton Schultz. Phillips entered the day fresh off stymying the C’s over 6.0 innings in the series opener while Schultz took the bump off back-to-back 6.0 inning, shutout performances in each of his last two starts.

The third inning saw things begin to come off the rails for the Ems, though, as a flurry of infield singles, bad bounces, and errors resulted in the Canadians taking the game’s first lead, but the Emeralds somehow, someway were able to emerge from the inning having surrendered just two runs.

Eugene cut the deficit back to one in the fourth when Logan Wyatt stroked an RBI single to center, but Vancouver added their third run in the bottom half on a misplayed ball by Ems catcher Patrick Bailey, and an RBI double from Phillip Clarke followed by yet another run-producing infield single saw the C’s take a 5-1 lead after four innings.

The fifth saw Vancouver add another due to self-inflicted wounds by the Emeralds as a wild pitch, passed ball, and an RBI groundout by Luis De Los Santos made it 6-1, but even despite the sloppy play and bad breaks, the Emeralds still never felt quite out of striking distance despite trailing by five after five.

In the seventh, Jacob Gonzalez chipped into the lead with a sacrifice fly that scored Logan Wyatt, and the two batters later the Canadians graciously gifted the Emeralds a run on a misplayed fly ball off the bat of Javeyan Williams that scored Franklin Labour to make it 7-3.

That was as close as the Emeralds would get, though, as Eugene stranded the bases loaded in the eighth and couldn’t muster much in the ninth to ultimately drop the series finale by a final of 7-3.

Despite the frustrating loss, Eugene will depart Hillsboro having taken four-of-six against the C’s after entering the series in a three-way tie for first with both Vancouver and Everett.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

• Logan Wyatt – 1B: Wyatt continued his strong form to finish out the series, going 1-for-2 with an RBI, a run scored, and, of course, two walks.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Ems enjoy an off day on Monday before facing off against the Everett AquaSox on Tuesday at 7:05pm PST at Funko Field in the first game of a six-game series in Everett. You can listen live to all the action on 95.3FM The Score, via MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.

Information regarding tickets to Emeralds home games is available at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.

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