Globe iconLogin iconRecap iconSearch iconTickets icon
High-A Affiliate
The Official Site of the Eugene Emeralds Eugene Emeralds
Tickets
Single Game Tickets Season Memberships Mini-Plans Picnics Summit Bank Suite Level Group Tickets Birthday Parties Ticket Info MyProvenue MyTickets Login TicketSmarter - Ticket Resale Marketplace
Schedule
Schedule Options Schedule Printable Schedule Promotion Schedule
Team
Team Info Roster Front Office Sluggo PK Park Ballpark Guide: A-Z Monarcas de Eugene Team News Transactions Giants Affiliates
Stats & Scores
Scoreboard Individual stats Team stats Standings MiLB stats
Community
Ems in the Community FUN-draising Emeralds Baseball Camp Gameday Employment Sluggo's Home Run Reading Challenge Junior Ems Club Heritage Bank Community Spotlight Request a Donation
Team Store
(541) 342-5367

Ems Split Doubleheader To Wrap Home Slate

Eugene gets a walk-off win in Game One but can’t finish off the series sweep in Game Two
September 11, 2021

The Eugene Emeralds (65-49) set up a chance for a five-game sweep but couldn’t complete it as the Ems and Everett AquaSox (61-52) split a doubleheader on Friday with the Ems winning, 2-1, in Game One before falling, 9-2, in Game Two. GAME ONE DETAILS: - Winning Pitcher: Conner Nurse

The Eugene Emeralds (65-49) set up a chance for a five-game sweep but couldn’t complete it as the Ems and Everett AquaSox (61-52) split a doubleheader on Friday with the Ems winning, 2-1, in Game One before falling, 9-2, in Game Two.

GAME ONE DETAILS:

  • Winning Pitcher: Conner Nurse (6-7, 4.95 ERA): 7.0 IP | 6 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 2 BB | 10 K
  • Losing Pitcher: Tyler Driver (3-4, 6.85 ERA): 1.1 IP | 2 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 1 BB | 1 K
  • Save: N/A
  • HR(s): Eugene: Munguia (9) | Everett: Hoover (18)

HOW GAME ONE HAPPENED: The first round of Friday’s doubleheader may not have featured much in terms of offensive output, but it certainly wasn’t short on entertainment.

Everett’s offense struck first in the top of the second when Conner Hoover launched his eighteenth homer of the season, a solo blast into the Emeralds bullpen to put the Frogs up first, 1-0.

As has been a staple this series thus far, though, the Emeralds offense responded quickly to level the score. Ismael Munguia, who entered the day batting .488 over his last 19 games played, followed Hoover’s lead by launching a solo homer into the Emeralds bullpen to tie the game at 1-1, his second home run of the series and his eighth of the season.

It stayed 1-1 until the seventh as Emeralds starting pitcher Conner Nurse was exceptional on the mound, posting career-highs in both innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (10).

In the home half of the seventh, Carter Aldrete doubled on a fly ball to left with one out in the inning, and fittingly enough that brought up Ismael Munguia once more. Once more, Munguia delivered by singling softly to right field allowing Aldrete to score easily from second base and give the Emeralds a 2-1 walk-off win, setting up a chance to complete Eugene’s second series sweep of the season (June 15-20 vs. Hillsboro).

GAME ONE PEAK PERFORMERS:

  • Conner Nurse – RHP: Nurse fired a complete game in the seven-inning affair, starting and finishing each inning while racking up a career-high ten strikeouts. As noted by the Daily Emerald’s Mojo Hill on Twitter (@mojohill22), over Nurse’s last five starts he’s fired 29.1 IP with a 1.84 ERA, 11 walks and 34 strikeouts.
  • Ismael Munguia – CF: What a stretch it’s been for Munguia. It was a 3-for-4 night at the plate for Eugene’s leadoff man, his seventeenth multi-hit game in his last twenty games played. Munguia drove in both runs for the Emeralds in their 2-1 win.

GAME TWO DETAILS:

  • Winning Pitcher: Bernie Martinez (4-2, 6.85 ERA): 2.0 IP | 1 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 1 BB | 2 K

  • Losing Pitcher: Jake Dahlberg (2-5, 7.08 ERA): 4.0 IP | 7 H | 5 R | 5 ER | 1 BB | 7 K

  • Save: N/A

  • HR(s): Eugene: Auerbach (14) | Everett: Marlowe (19), Lavey (6)

HOW GAME TWO HAPPENED: Looking to avoid a five-game sweep at the hands of the Emeralds, the AquaSox offense got off and running quickly as Connor Hoover led off the game by drawing a four-pitch walk and Cade Marlowe followed by launching a two-run blast to right-center, Marlowe’s nineteenth homer of the season tying him with Eugene’s Sean Roby for the league lead.

Just one pitch later, Noelvi Marte laced a first pitch double into left field, and Victor Labrada followed in the ensuing at-bat with a ground-rule double over the short wall in right to plate Marte and put Everett up by three before Eugene had even taken an at-bat.

Two innings later, Everett put back-to-back batters on-base with one out after Victor Labrada singled and Alberto Rodriguez seemed incredibly eager to wear an inside offering from Eugene pitcher Jake Dahlberg. A double steal by the Frogs then yielded their fourth run as an errant throw from Emeralds backstop Brett Auerbach deflected off Ems third baseman Carter Aldrete’s glove and trickled into left field, thereby scoring Labrada. Later in the same at-bat, Dariel Gomez singled on a 1-2 offering to score Rodriguez and extend Everett’s lead to 5-0.

Eugene responded quickly in the bottom of the third with a leadoff solo homer from Brett Auerbach, his second of the series and his fourteenth home run in forty-nine games with the Emeralds. The Ems almost made it a 5-2 game in the very next at-bat when Jairo Pomares skied a Tim Elliott offering to right field, but Everett right fielder Alberto Rodriguez made a marvelous grab reaching over the short wall in right to rob Pomares and keep Everett ahead by a 5-1 margin.

Auerbach played a part in Eugene scoring their second run of the game one inning later, but it was Kwan Adkins who did most of the heavy lifting. Adkins reached base with one out after being plunked by a pitch from Bernie Martinez, and the speedy center fielder followed by stealing second and third base on back-to-back pitches. Moments later, Brett Auerbach brought Adkins home with a groundout to the right side that made it 5-2.

Everett’s advantage was stretched back up to four in the top of the sixth when Justin Lavey launched a solo homer to straight-away center field, his sixth homer with the Frogs, and it became a 7-2 lead in the seventh after an Alberto Rodriguez infield single deflected off of Ems pitcher Taylor Rashi and then past Marco Luciano at short allowing Noelvi Marte to score.

Four batters later, after a strikeout and back-to-back walks, Justin Lavey continued his big night by bringing home two more Everett runs on a single to center field to put Everett’s lead at 9-2, a lead far too great for the Ems to overcome in the seventh as Everett avoided being swept by Eugene thanks to a 9-2 victory in Game Two of Friday’s doubleheader.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Emeralds will finish the regular season on the road with a six-game series against the Tri-City Dust Devils in Pasco, Washington.

Whether or not the Emeralds make the postseason, there will unfortunately be no home playoff games for the Emeralds as the Oregon Ducks Baseball team has requested that the Ems move out of PK Park as the Ducks prepare for their fall practice schedule.

The High-A West Championship Series will feature the two teams with the best winning percentages at the end of the regular season. Those two teams will face off in a best-of-five series that will determine the league champion.

You can catch all the action in Pasco with road broadcaster Alex Stimson on the call via 95.3FM The Score, MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.

Tickets to Emeralds home games are available at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.

Stay up to date with the Emeralds by following the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.