Ems Bats Held At Bay In Hillsboro

With both the Hillsboro Hops and the Eugene Emeralds each having enjoyed three much-needed days of rest during the All-Star Break, the two sides faced off Thursday night at Ron Tonkin Field with the Hops prevailing by a final score of 5-2.

In front of a crowd of 3,560 at Ron Tonkin Field, the Hops took advantage of an Emeralds error to get the scoring started in the second inning. After back-to-back singles by Zach Esquerra and Jordan Parr started the inning, the Hops capitalized on a fielding error by Edwin Moreno to take a 2-0 lead after two innings of play.

One inning later, the Hops would add to their lead, and it wouldn't take long. Hops first baseman Kevin Cron would lead off the inning with a solo home run, as slugger sent the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to extend the Hops' lead to 3-0.

The Ems would immediately respond with a run in the fourth and another run in the fifth to quickly make it a one-run ballgame. After Nick Vilter delivered a two-out RBI single to score Davis in the fourth inning, a Franchy Cordero RBI groundout scored River Stevens in the fifth inning to cut Hillsboro's lead to just 3-2.

However, the Hops would score two runs in the seventh to regain a three-run lead, and they would ultimately go on to win by that very same score. 

After the Ems had scored seven runs in each of their last two games, the Hops pitching staff held the Ems to just three hits on the evening, including NWL All-Stars Auston Bousfield, Franchy Cordero, and Marcus Davis going a combined 1-10 with three strikeouts.

Emeralds starting pitcher Walker Weickel continued to show promise in his fourth start with the club tossing four innings while allowing four hits, three runs (one earned), and three walks to go along with three strikeouts.

The Hops and Emeralds will face off Friday evening for the second game of the three-game series with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm. You can catch all the action on 95.3FM The Score, EmeraldsBaseball.com, or the MiLB First Pitch app.

For information on tickets, call (541) 342-5367, visit EmeraldsBaseball.com, or stop by the Eugene Emeralds box office at 2760 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, located next to PK Park on the North side of Autzen Stadium.