Lightning Strikes Twice As Hops Snap Skid

EUGENE, Ore. --One night after losing three runners on the bases in a one-run defeat, the Hops were not deterred in their pursuit of extra bags on a stormy Saturday in Eugene.

Successfully pulling off two first-and-third double steals, Hillsboro (22-25 second half, 57-55 overall) closed out a 4-2 win at Eugene (21-26, 54-58) with four scoreless innings from the bullpen erasing ugly memories from the past three days.

Christian Cerda of all people scored what turned out to be the winning run on his second steal of home this season. With Jackson Feltner at the plate, Jack Hurley broke for second base as Feltner took a called strike three on the inside corner. Eugene catcher Onil Perez threw down to second base and Cerda made his way home without a return throw. That put the Hops up 3-1

After Eugene cut the lead to 3-2, the Hops pulled off the same play in the following inning, but an obstruction call on Eugene third baseman Sabin Ceballos meant that neither player got credit for a stolen base. This time, Gino Groover initiated a rundown between first and second, trying to open a window for Gavin Conticello to score from third. As the rundown play shifted to the third base line, Conticello was eventually tagged out at the plate, but home plate umpire Dylan Hulsey immediately signaled obstruction and there was no protest from the Eugene dugout. The play was officially scored an error on third baseman Sabin Ceballos and gave the Hops a 4-2 lead.

After taking a beating the last two days, the Hops bullpen took care of business on this night, preserving the two-run lead to the finish line to make a winner out of Logan Clayton (3-7). The righthander struck out seven with two walks and six hits allowed over five innings, allowing both Eugene runs.

Hillsboro grabbed the first lead on Tommy Troy's home run to left center with two outs in the third inning. The former first-rounder has found a nice groove at the plate over the last week-plus, hitting in a career-best seven consecutive games.

Eugene answered with a Bryce Eldridge RBI single in the bottom of the third. Eldridge finished with a pair of hits one night after his nine-game hit streak came to an end. It was his seventh hit and sixth RBI of the series.

The Hops had a quick response, opening the fourth inning with three consecutive singles off Eugene starting pitcher Joe Whitman (3-8), Hurley plating Groover with a dunker down the left field line on a breaking pitch down and away from him. After Pena sent a deep drive to right center. Cerda tagged and advanced to third, from where he was able to score on the double steal to make it 3-1 Hillsboro.

In the bottom half of the inning, Ceballos lined a double just out of the reach of the diving Groover at third. Quinn McDaniel followed with an RBI single to center field and advanced to second when Hurley's one-hop throw home caromed off Gavin Logan's glove for an error. But Clayton retired the next two batters and worked around a walk and single before turning the ball over to Landon Sims in the sixth.

Ceballos led off that inning with another try for two, but Conticello had other ideas, cutting off his shot in the right center field gap and firing a perfect one-hop strike to Troy at second for the out. That turned out to be the defensive play of the night as the Ems got a walk and a hit later in the inning and Ceballos would almost certainly have scored.

Listher Sosa followed with two scoreless innings, allowing one base runner on a hit-by-pitch and striking out one. Alfred Morillo came on to pitch the ninth. The Hillsboro closer walked Scott Bandura with one out, meaning he had to face Eldridge, MLB Pipeline's number-one-rated San Francisco prospect, representing the tying run with two outs in the ninth. After painting the black with a fastball at the knees on the outside corner, Morillo got the tall, talented teen to ground out harmlessly to Manny Pena to end the game, carding his ninth save of the year.

Groover and Hurley each had two hits and both Troy and Conticello extended hitting streaks to seven games. Ceballos reached base three times for Eugene, with two hits and a base on balls.

The start time of the game was delayed by one hour due to a thunderstorm, but was played without a stoppage or a single drop of rain from first pitch on. No weather issues are expected Sunday when the teams close out their season series. The 23rd and final meeting of 2024 will be the rubber match as each team has won 11 against the other this season. Pregame airtime begins at 4:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM with first pitch at 5:05 p.m.