Hurley Jacks Two, Hops Lose By Three

EVERETT, Wash.--The Hillsboro Hops (11-14) had 13 hits and three home runs and starting pitcher Ricardo Yan only walked one batter. Sounds like a winning formula, right?

Not enough as it turned out. The Everett AquaSox (9-16) had six extra-base hits of their own and cashed in on two Hillsboro errors to defeat the Hops 8-5 Friday at Funko Field.

Jack Hurley hit two of the Hops' homers, his first multi-home run game as a pro. The second of a pair of two-run bombs pulled the Hops to within 7-5 in the top of the seventh inning. Christian Cerda followed with a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Kevin Sim then doubled into the left field corner, but Cerda was thrown out at the plate to end the inning and the Hops comeback fell short.

Everett took a 7-1 lead with a four-run fifth inning. Yan (0-2), the Northwest League leader in walks coming into the contest, surrendered his only free pass after a pair of Everett hits in the fifth and departed the game with one out. With the league's leading hitter Ben Williamson at the plate, Peniel Otano came out of the pen and got the Everett third baseman to ground toward shortstop for a potential inning-ending double play. But the short-hop chopper deflected off Juan Corniel's glove high into the air, allowing Andrew Miller and Brock Rodden to score, giving the Frogs a 5-1 advantage. One out later, Victor Labrada doubled into the left field corner to plate two more runs.

But the Hops charged back behind the bat of Hurley, who has broken out of a slump this week. The second-year pro out of Virginia Tech smacked his first home run of the season off Everett reliever Bryan Pope in the sixth inning, taking advantage of the close fence in right center field. Then in the seventh inning, with Gavin Conticello on second after a leadoff double, Hurley sent a Chris Jefferson pitch over the high wall in left field. It was Hurley's second four-RBI game of the season.

The cycle watch was in effect early for Hillsboro leadoff batter Andrew Pintar. The center fielder led off the game with a triple, then hit a blast over that same right center field fence his next time up in the third inning to give the Hops a 1-0 lead. Two walks and a strikeout would finish the former BYU Cougar's pursuit of the cycle.

The AquaSox answered Pintar's solo shot with a two-run R.J. Schreck homer in the bottom of the third. Schreck and Pintar are now tied with Conticello for the league lead in dingers with four each.

The Frogs made it 3-1 in the fourth inning, plating an unearned run after a strange stolen base obstruction call put Labrada at third base with one out. The Everett outfielder had reached on an infield hit, then appeared to have second base stolen, but overslid the bag. Instead of trying to fight his way back, Labrada hopped up and bolted toward third, eventually tagged out by Corniel at second after a rundown. But Everett manager Ryan Scott protested the play and after the two umpires got together, Corniel was ruled to have obstructed Labrada's path to the base and he was awarded third. Axel Sanchez followed with a sacrifice fly.

Hops acting manager Mark Reed made the same protest later on when Cerda was tagged out at the plate. A rules point of emphasis for umpires this season is to call obstruction when a defensive player is on or blocking the plate or base before possessing the baseball. Reed's vehement argument with home plate umpire Nathan Hall, Jr. fell on deaf ears.

Hillsboro outhit Everett 13-9, but the two Corniel errors accounted for four unearned runs in the three-run loss. Yan surrendered seven hits over 4 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and the one walk. Only half of the six runs the 21-year-old hurler allowed were earned.

Everett starting pitcher Ty Cummings (1-1) featured a tight, nasty slider. The second-year right hander out of Campbell University allowed one run on five hits over five innings with four strikeouts and two bases on balls. Troy Taylor's streak of 20 consecutive batters retired ended in the ninth inning on a Neyfy Castillo single, but the Everett closer kept the Hops off the board, striking out two to card his league-leading fourth save.

Hillsboro got hits from batters one through nine with two-hit games from Pintar, Castillo, Hurley and Manny Pena. Labrada and Rodden each had a pair of hits for Everett with Rodden scoring twice.

Saturday's game is scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start with pregame coverage beginning at 6:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM.