Hillsboro falls 4-2 to Vancouver

The Friday night matchup at Hillsboro Stadium for the Hillsboro Hops and the Vancouver Canadians felt like it was over before it really even started. Vancouver struck first, homering twice and scoring three runs in the first inning. Before this game, the Hillsboro pitching staff had allowed only four runs in four games but were unable to keep this pattern going, allowing four runs in the first two innings of this matchup. The Canadians beat the Hops 4-2, with the Hops up three games to one in the series.

The Canadians got to Hops’ starting pitcher, Roman Angelo, quickly, homering twice in the first inning. Three runs were scored on three hits before the inning was over.

Chris McElvain was the starting pitcher for the Canadians. McElvain allowed a double to Gavin Conticello in the first, but nothing more.

A string of singles paired with a walk in the second allowed Vancouver to tack on another run, going up 4-0 against the Hops.

Andrew Pintar drew a walk in the bottom of the third, setting himself up to be driven in by Conticello for his second extra-base hit of the night. The Hillsboro offense could not muster up anything more in the inning but put one run on the board trying to cut into the four-run deficit.

The second Hops’ run of the game came in the fifth inning after Conticello hit his third straight extra-base hit. With Conticello on third, a passed ball by the Canadians’ catcher allowed him to score, making it a 4-2 ball game.

After five innings of work, McElvain, the Canadians’ starting pitcher was pulled and replaced by Chay Yeager. McElvain allowed six hits and two earned runs, striking out seven Hops’ batters.

For Hillsboro, Junior Cerda came in for Roman Angelo in the top of the seventh. After allowing four earned runs, Angelo retired ten straight Vancouver batters. Angelo struck out seven batters and allowed two walks and two home runs. Junior Cerda struck out one batter in an inning of work and allowed no runs. Jhosmer Alvarez went into the game for the final two innings and struck out one, allowing only one hit.

In the bottom of the eighth Grayson Thurman came in for Yeager. Yeager struck out two and allowed one hit in two innings. Thurman pitched for one inning and allowed two hits before Justin Kelly came into the game to successfully get the save for the Canadians.

Gavin Conticello did his best to keep the Hops’ comeback hopes alive, going three-for-four with three extra-base hits.

Canadians’ third baseman Ryan McCarty went two-for-four while starting pitcher Chris McElvian got credit for the win.

The Canadians and Hops meet up for the fifth game of the series with the first pitch at 4:05 pm on Saturday at Hillsboro Ballpark. The pregame show will start at 3:50 pm on RipCity Radio 620 AM.