Hillsboro's Late Rally Comes up Short in 9-6 Defeat

Vancouver, BC (April 30, 2025) – Hillsboro and Vancouver met at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday night for the second game of the series and it was déjà vu for the Hops. For the second straight game, Vancouver would score in the first three innings to take a commanding early lead. Yesterday, starter Daniel Nunez recorded just two outs and today Casey Anderson recorded five outs, but allowed seven hits and six earned runs. The Hops fell behind 7-0 and ended up sending the tying and go-ahead runs to the plate multiple times in the eighth and ninth innings, but again came up short in the 9-6 loss.

It looked like Hops’ starter Casey Anderson may not make it out of the first inning, but on his 37^th pitch of the frame he got Nick Goodwin to ground into a double play. Vancouver had a 2-0 lead into the second inning where they added four more on doubles by Arjun Nimmala and Jackson Hornung and a two-RBI single by Je’Von Ward.

Jauron Watts-Brown allowed two runs in the fourth inning as Jackson Feltner got Hillsboro on the board with a two-run homer off the scoreboard. His third home run of the season made it 7-2. Despite the homer, Watts-Brown struck out 10 Hops’ batters in just four innings.

Nate Savino was making his Hillsboro debut in relief and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings through the middle frames. Then, Hayden Durke came in and struck out four batters and didn’t allow a base runner continuing his magnificent start to the season.

The Hops added a run in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases, but just got one home on a wild pitch. Vancouver added to the tally with two more runs in the seventh to make it 9-3.

Hillsboro wasn’t done there, as they scored three times in the eighth. Demetrio Crisantes missed a home run by inches off the top of the left field fence that scored a run and then Angel Ortiz brought home two on a single. Bo Bonds came in to face the tying run at the plate three times in the inning with none out and he retired all three hitters in order to end the threat.

A single, walk and single started the ninth inning against Bonds, loading the bases yet again with nobody out. Hillsboro would again send the tying and go-ahead runs to the plate, but Bonds got three consecutive outs, including two strikeouts to end the game.

Cristofer Torin had three hits with Jansel Luis, Angel Ortiz and Demetrio Crisantes adding two-hit nights. 20-year-old Blue Jays #1 prospect Arjun Nimmala had three hits, two of them doubles and scored two runs and drove two in.

Game three of the series will be tomorrow night at Nat Bailey Stadium. The pregame show starts at 6:50 with first pitch at 7:05 on Rip City Radio 620 AM.