June 17, 2023 – Northwest League (NWL) – Eugene Emeralds News Release
The Eugene Emeralds defeated the Spokane Indians for a 3rd straight game. They won by a final score of 13-8. The Emeralds move back to a game above .500 with a 31-30 record. They’re 3.5 games out of first place in the Northwest League.
The Emeralds struck first here tonight against the Spokane starter Jaden Hill. With two outs Carter Howell drew a walk on a full count. The very next batter, Victor Bericoto, launched a homerun out to right center field to give the Emeralds the 2-0 lead. It was the 2nd home run of the series for Victor Bericoto and his 5th home run in the month of june. It didn’t take long for Spokane to answer back as they tied the ballgame up in the home-half of the 1st. After a leadoff walk and a single. Yanquiel Fernandez grounded out and score Adael Amador on the play. The next batter, Jordan Beck, slapped a single to the outfield to tie the game up at 2 after the 1st inning.
Spokane tacked on another run in the third inning. Nick Kent doubled and the next batter A.J Lewis followed it up with a double of his own to score Kent. Eugene answered back in the top of the 3rd inning to tie up the ballgame at 3. Brett Auerbach doubled down the line and with two outs Adrian Sugastey ripped a single up the middle to tie up the ballgame. Two-out RBIs was a popular story tonight for Eugene as they had a whopping 9 of their 13 runs come with two outs in the game.
In the 4th inning Eugene really opened the ballgame up. Luis Toribio led the inning off with a walk and the next batter, Ghordy Santos, ripped a double down the line to put runners on 2nd and third for Edison Mora. He then connected with a baseball and hit it into the gap for a double and both runs came home to score easily. Grant McCray then hit a bloop single out to left field for 2 base runners. Carter Howell hit into a groundout and scored Mora on the play. That brought up Victor Bericoto with 2 outs. After taking a couple of pitches a ball got behind the catcher and McCray was able to come home to score and give Eugene the 7-3 after 4 innings.
Things would slow down for a couple of innings for both ball clubs. Joe Kemlgafe pitched two scoreless frames for Eugene and Mason Green hurled 3 scoreless frames for Eugene. It took until the bottom of the 7th before Spokane was able to start to chip away into the lead. A.J Lewis led the inning off with a solo home run to cut the lead to 3 runs. Yanquiel Fernandez drew a two-out walk and Jordan Beck followed it up with a walk of his own. With two outs Zach Kokoska ripped a double off the wall to score a run and cut the lead to two. He missed the game-tying home run by a mere matter of feet. Eugene would take the 7-4 lead into the 8th inning.
The 8th inning started off in a bit of an unconventional way. Right when Ghordy Santos stepped into the box to lead the inning off a light out in left field decided to shut off. This caused about a 15-minute delay but the light was finally able to get back on and we were back to baseball. Santos then decided to start the inning out with a triple. Edison Mora drew a walk on the next plate appearance. The next two batters got out for Eugene, and with two outs Carter Howell delivered a double to the outfield and scored two runs. Eugene had extended their lead to 9-4 heading to the home half of the 8th inning.
Spokane wouldn’t stop swinging as they put up 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. After two quick outs A.J Lewis drew a walk. Adael Amador followed that up by ripping a double and scoring Lewis on the play. Benny Montgomery then decided to get in on the two-out scoring parade and hit a two-run home run to make the lead just 9-8 in favor of Eugene heading to the 9th.
If you thought this game couldn’t get any wilder, you would have quickly been proven wrong in the 9th inning. Adrian Sugastey singled and after a couple of outs that brought up Luis Toribio. He then doubled down the 1st base line to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2-outs. Ghordy Santos stepped into the box and the Indians skipper decided to intentionally walk Ghordy. Ghordy had 7 hits in the series heading into that plate appearance. That brought up Edison Mora who had doubled already tonight and homered in the previous two ballgames. In a 3-2 count with 2 outs, all 3 runners took off and Mora was able to drive the ball down the line for a fair ball.
It plated two runs for Eugene and extended their lead to 11-8. Mora was fired up as he’s been having himself a fantastic week at the plate. Spokane then pitched around Grant McCray and loaded up the bases with two outs. Brett Auerbach was able to work the count full. Right before the pay-off pitch, the sprinklers turned on here at Avista stadium and caused a delay. It was the 2nd delay of the night but the crowd was loving it. Someone from the grounds crew was able to turn it off and Auerbach delivered a two-out RBI Single that scored a pair of runs to give the Ems the five-run lead heading into the bottom of the 9th.
Tyler Myrick was able to close things down and gave the Emeralds their 3rd straight win against Spokane. They now have guaranteed themselves a series split at worst, and if they’re able to win one of the next two ball games they’ll have a series win over the Indians. They are 3.5 games out of first place in the Northwest League, so they’ll have to make up a game on the Vancouver by the time next week rolls around to have a shot at the 1st half title in the Northwest League. The Ems will be back in action tomorrow night with first pitch set for 7:05 P.M.
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