Ghastly Eighth Inning Costs Hops Game

The Hillsboro Hops suffered an extra inning loss against the Eugene Emeralds in the Tuesday night matchup at Hillsboro Ballpark. Roman Angelo had a remarkable performance on the bump, matching a career-high ten strikeouts. The Hops were up 8-1 before a mix of errors and earned runs allowed the Emeralds to go up 10-9. Seven runs were scored in the eighth inning from Eugene. Combined, both teams committed seven errors, three charged to Hillsboro and four to Eugene. Seven runs were scored off of the Hillsboro relief pitchers, only one of them earned. The Emeralds took the game 11-10 over the Hops.

Hillsboro’s scoring started in the third after Jack Hurley drew a walk. Tommy Troy singled to put Hurley in scoring position. Gavin Conticello reached base on a fielder’s choice and a throwing error by Eugene second baseman Quinn McDaniel allowed the first run to score for the Hops. Nefy Castillo singled, driving in two more runs, putting the Hops up 3-0.

Jack Hurley hit his eighth homer of the season in the fifth, tacking on another run for Hillsboro. Emeralds’ starter Cesar Perdomo allowed two batters on base before Christan Cerda hit an RBI single, ending Perdomo’s day on the mound and putting Hillsboro up 5-0. Perdomo pitched four and two-thirds innings, allowing four earned runs, eight hits, and two walks. Relief pitcher Austin Strickland took over for Eugene.

Angelo gave up a solo home run in the sixth to put the Emeralds on the board.

With the bases loaded for Hillsboro, Jack Hurley drew a walk, adding another run for the Hops. Two more runs scored before the Emeralds took Strickland out of the game. Strickland allowed three earned runs, walked two batters, and only recorded two outs. Hillsboro left the bases loaded, but scored three runs in the inning, putting them up 8-1.

Roman Angelo left two runners on when Listher Sosa took over in the seventh inning. Both runs scored, getting charged to Angelo before Sosa could get out of the inning.

Angelo went six and a third innings, striking out ten and allowing three earned runs. Going into the bottom of the seventh the Hops kept their 8-3 lead.

Listher Sosa was on the bump for what would end up being a disastrous eighth inning. Sosa allowed the Emeralds to score two runs making it an 8-5 ball game. Zane Russell came into the game with two runners in scoring position, both scoring. A two-out single tied up the game 8-8. Russell walked two straight batters to give Eugene the 10-8 lead over Hillsboro.

The Hops managed to get one run across in the bottom of the eighth and tied it up in the bottom of the ninth when Kevin Sim walked and scored after Jack Hurley singled. Tied at 10-10 the game went into extras.

With Yordin Chalas pitching for the Hops, an RBI double from Justin Wishkoshi put the Emeralds up 11-10. All three batters got out in the bottom of the ninth for the Hops, allowing Eugene to take the 11-10 win over Hillsboro.

Game three of the series will take place Wednesday at 7:05 pm at Hillsboro Ballpark. The pre-game show will start at 6:50 pm on Rip City Radio 620 AM.