Tim Tawa Homers in Hops Debut 

Hillsboro, OR (April 8th, 2022)- The first professional baseball game during the month of April in the Portland metro area for over a decade, resulted in a 5-4 victory for the Tri-City Dust Devils over the Hillsboro Hops. That wasn’t the only “first” of the night, as the Hillsboro Hops’ 2022 Opening Day began with the first jersey retirement in franchise history -- honoring Hillsboro great, Ben Petrick.

Opening Day starter Blake Walston struck out the first two batters he faced on ten pitches. The waters got rough for the D-Backs No. 4 prospect, giving up three runs to end the inning. Walston struck out the side on 33 pitches.

The Hops came right back in the bottom of the first inning with a run of their own, as Adrian Del Castillo drove in Jorge Barrosa after a lead-off double.

Walston found his groove after the rough first inning, recording eight of his ten outs via the punch-out.

A day after his 23rd birthday and his first game as a professional back in his home state, Tim Tawa belted the Hops’ first homer of 2022 bringing the score to 3-2. Tawa, one of the most decorated prep athletes ever in the state of Oregon, graduated from West Linn High School in 2017.

The Hops tied the game in the sixth, but the Dust Devils quickly responded in the seventh, as former Oregon Duck Gabe Matthews singled home a run giving Tri-City a 4-3 lead.

The bases were loaded forcing in a run, after A.J. Vukovich was hit-by-pitch to tie the game at four. Once again, Tri-City answered by taking the lead with a RBI double from Steven Rivas.

Emilker Guzman entered the game in the eighth striking out the side and stayed in the game to get the final three outs and complete the save for the Dust Devils.

Game two of the three game series between Hillsboro (0-1) and Tri-City (1-0) back at Ron Tonkin field on Saturday. First pitch is at 6:35 on Rip City Radio 620 and MiLB.TV, with Matt Richert and Rich Burk.