Another Full Team Effort Sees Ems Stay Perfect

Four games down, four games in the win column. The Eugene Emeralds (4-0) stayed perfect and atop the High-West on Friday night behind an 8-4 win over the Spokane Indians (0-4) at Avista Stadium in Spokane, Washington.

The win marked Eugene’s third come-from-behind victory in as many days and the fourth consecutive game to start the season that has seen the Ems score at least eight runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The Emeralds wasted no time jumping out to an early lead as Tyler Fitzgerald and Ismael Munguia led off the game with back-to-back singles followed by back-to-back walks by Will Wilson and Logan Wyatt to force home a run and give Eugene the early 1-0 advantage.

Spokane responded in the home half of the first to level the score at 1-1, and in the fourth they plated a pair of runs to take their first lead of the game, 3-1.

In the top of the fifth, it was Eugene’s turn to quickly respond as 2019 first rounder Will Wilson smashed his first homer of the season, a solo shot on a frozen rope to left field that cut the Ems’ deficit in half.

Wilson’s solo blast kicked off a stretch of five consecutive innings that saw the Emeralds score at least one run, a slow burn of offensive output that eventually saw the game put well out of reach for the Indians who were flummoxed at the plate by the Emeralds bullpen for the second straight night.

An inning after Wilson’s four-bagger, Logan Wyatt continued his absurdly impressive start to the season at the plate by singling to score Ismael Munguia and tie the game at 3-3.

The Ems were back in front one inning later when Jacob Gonzalez – the son of 19-year MLB veteran and 5-time All-Star Luis Gonzalez – came through in his High-A debut, notching his first hit and first RBI as an Emerald with a sharp single to left-center to score Brandon Martorano and make it 4-3, Emeralds.

Three batters later, Gonzalez plated his first run as an Emerald on a sacrifice fly by Fitzgerald to eek Eugene’s lead up to 5-3.

In the eighth, Eugene added another thanks to the savvy baserunning of Will Wilson and a gift in the form of a throwing error from Spokane. With Wilson on second and two outs on the board, the former NC State standout got a walking start in an attempt to steal third. Spokane pitcher Trysten Barlow pirouetted around and seemingly had Wilson dead to rights, but a poor throw to third from Barlow skipped all the way to the third base wall and allowed Wilson to scamper all the way home easily, stretching the lead to 6-3.

The Ems added two more for good measure in the ninth, first on an RBI double by Fitzgerald that scored Javeyan Williams followed by an RBI single by Ismael Munguia to score Fitzgerald.

Spokane got one back in the bottom of the ninth on a solo blast by former UCLA standout Michael Toglia, but it was far too little, too late as Ems reliever RJ Dabovich struck out the side to seal Eugene’s fourth win in as many games to start the 2021 campaign.

Ems starting pitcher Nick Morreale fired 3.1 innings with three hits, three earned runs, three walks and three strikeouts in his season debut.

The impressive offensive outburst came without two of the roster’s three first rounders in the lineup (OF Hunter Bishop and C Patrick Bailey) while Diego Rincones, who leads the High-A in OPS, was also sidelined for the evening.

PEAK PERFORMERS:

• Logan Wyatt – 1B: The Ems cleanup hitter continues to reach base at a ridiculous clip, going 2-for-4 with two walks and two RBI. Through four games, Wyatt is batting .538 (7-for-13) with eight walks, good for a .714 on-base percentage.

• Emeralds Bullpen: The bullpen was exceptional for the second straight night as three relievers – Travis Perry, Solomon Bates, and RJ Dabovich – combined to fire 5.2 IP with one hit, one (earned) run, two walks and eight strikeouts.

• Brandon Martorano – C: Twenty-four hours removed from making his Emeralds debut, Martorano was solid yet again as the starting backstop for Eugene by going 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored at the plate while also gunning down one Indians would-be base stealer and picking off another at first base.

• Ismael Munguia – RF: The Nicaraguan continued to impress on Friday, posting a game-high three hits (3-for-5) with an RBI and a run scored.

• Tyler Fitzgerald – SS: Fitzgerald looked as comfortable as could be making his first start at shortstop while also moving up to the leadoff spot in the lineup. The former Louisville Cardinal went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored while also producing a highlight real grab in the field, robbing Spokane’s LJ Hatch of a potential hit and RBI with a miraculous leaping grab to end the fourth inning.

• Will Wilson – DH: The lone first rounder in the lineup on Friday night, Wilson delivered in a big way by going 2-for-4 with a solo HR, two runs scored, and two walks.

WHAT’S NEXT: The Ems and Indians face off in the fifth game of a six-game series on Saturday evening at Avista Stadium with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35pm PST. RHP Connor Nurse is scheduled to make his season debut on the mound for the Ems.

You can listen live to all the action on 95.3FM The Score, via MiLB.com or on the MiLB app.

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