Hillsboro Clinches Playoffs for Sixth Straight Year!

The Hillsboro Hops dropped game one of their final regular season home series against the Boise Hawks 4-1. In lighter news, the Hops still managed to clinch the playoffs after the Eugene Emeralds lost their contest to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 6-5. With this playoff clinch, the Hops made Norhtwest League history becoming the first team to clinch a postseason berth in six consecutive season. 
The Arizona Diamondbacks 26th overall pick Blake Walston made his debut in Hillsboro in the series opener. The six foot five left-hander pitched two innings and allowed one earned run on an RBI single by Nic Motley. The Hops evened the score in the bottom of the fourth when Liover Peguero drove in Tristin English with a ground-out.  

The Hops ace and Northwest League's ERA leader Deyni Olivero took over for Walston in the third inning. Early on, the righty cruised tossing three scoreless frames, but ran into trouble in the top of the sixth loading the bases with nobody out. Yorvis Torrealba regained the lead for the Hawks with a 2-run RBI single. Boise added another run to advance their lead to 4-1. 
Hillsboro did not have an answer for Boise's pitching staff in the late innings. Keven Pimentel, Joel Condreay, Fineas Del Bonta-Smith, and Jacob Wallace combined for five scoreless innings out of relief while only allowing two hits. 
Hillsboro (44-27) will take on Boise (26-45) in game two of the series at 7:05 pm tomorrow. Catch all the action with Rich Burk on Rip City Radio 620 AM with the pregame show kicking off at 6:35 pm. 
The Hops will face off against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes to battle out the South Division of Northwest League. Game one will be played in Hillsboro on Wednesday, September 4th at 7:05 pm. Games two and three (if necessary) would be played in Keizer on September 5th and 6th. Single game playoff sales will commence at 1 pm tomorrow. Call the Hops front office at (503) 640-0887 or you can buy online at https://www.milb.com/hillsboro