June 21, 2023 – Northwest League (NWL) – Eugene Emeralds News Release
The Eugene Emeralds defeated the Vancouver Canadians by a final score of 5-1. This is the Emeralds’ first win in this series and they now boast a 34-31 record.
The Canadians struck first in the ballgame tonight. Dasan Brown hit his fifth double of the season on a fly ball to left field to put the first runner in scoring position. Brown advanced to third after a wild pitch was thrown by starting pitcher, Eric Silva. Two pitches later, Michael Turconi hit a sacrifice fly to left field, causing the first run to cross the plate.
An inning later, Adrian Sugastey started everything off for the Emeralds after a ground ball single to right field. Two outs go by after Aeverson Arteaga popped out to first and Luis Toribio grounded out in a fielder’s choice to first base, forcing Sugastey to second.
On the first pitch of Ghordy Santos’ at-bat, he sent the ball over the right-center field wall for his fifth home run of the season and a 2-1 lead.
As four innings went by, the scoring remained quiet. No runners for either team got to scoring position. After Eric Silva’s time ended on the mound with two hits, one run, two walks, and one strikeout in four innings, Joe Kemlage relieved him. In one inning, he allowed no hits or runs while striking out two and was awarded the win. Will Kempner, Mat Olsen, Tanner Kiest, and Tyler Myrick were each given an inning to finish the game, and combined for no runs, five strikeouts, one walk, and five hits.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Emeralds cushioned their lead which would carry them for the rest of the game. With two outs, Victor Bericoto singled on a fly ball to right field. Shortly after, Adrian Sugastey singled on a pop-up to the first baseman and Bericoto advanced to third.
With runners on the corners, Aeverson Arteaga hit his seventh home run of the season over the left field wall to make the score 5-1.
As the game was near the end, Vancouver kept swinging. The Canadians continued to put runners on base in the final two innings but weren’t able to advance them to scoring position.
For the Emeralds, this win puts them 3.5 games behind first place and a 7-3 record in the past 10 games, which is a strong start for the second half of the season. If the Emeralds clinch the second half, it will be a repeat of last season as they would face the Vancouver Canadians in the championship series for a chance at a 3-peat.
It’s an uphill battle for Eugene, but we’ve seen them come back to win it all in the past, so you can’t count them out. They’ll be back in action tomorrow night at 6:35 pm. The game will be available to stream on MiLB.TV.
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