Austin Filiere's two-out bloop double to left scored Chris Singleton with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning as the Eugene Emeralds defeated the Hillsboro Hops 3-2 in the opener of a three-game series at Ron Tonkin Field Wednesday night.The Hops had tied the game with two
Austin Filiere's two-out bloop double to left scored Chris Singleton with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning as the Eugene Emeralds defeated the Hillsboro Hops 3-2 in the opener of a three-game series at Ron Tonkin Field Wednesday night.
The Hops had tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles by Bryan Araiza and Pavin Smith, collecting four hits in the inning off Eugene reliever Keegan Thompson, a third-round draft pick of the Cubs out of Auburn.
ugene's 18-year-old starting pitcher Jose Albertos limited the Hops to no runs and two hits over five innings with seven strikeouts and two bases on balls, but the Hops jumped on Thompson right away with back-to-back singles by Ryan Dobson and Araiza. Hillsboro opened the seventh inning in similar fashion, with back-to-back base hits by Connor Owings and Jorge Perez, but Thompson retired the next three batters before giving way to Luis Aquino.
The fifth-year pro with the nasty split-finger pitch surrendered a leadoff double to Smith in the eight, but retired the next two batters. Former Oregon Duck catcher Tim Susnara lined a 2-0 Aquino pitch to left field for a base hit, but Emeralds leftfielder Chris Carrier threw out Smith at the plate to end the inning. Aquino retired the side in the ninth for his seventh save, striking out three batters in two innings.
Thompson got the win, despite allowing six hits and two runs in two innings. He struck out two without a walk. Hillsboro's Tyler Badamo had his fourth consecutive quality start, but was tagged with his second loss, allowing ten hits and all three runs in 7 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Filiere and Carrier each had three hits and a run batted in. Smith and Daulton Varsho each had two hits for the Hops, who had ten hits in the game after being limited to six hits combined in their previous two games at Tri-City.
The Hops try to snap a four-game losing streak Thursday night when they send 19-year-old Jhoan Duran to the mound. Eugene counters with the Chicago Cubs top pick in the draft, lefthander Brendon Little out of State College Of Florida, a two-year school in Sarasota.
Tune in for live coverage on Rip City Radio 620 AM, pregame show at 6:35 PM, first pitch at 7:05. All Hops games are streamed live at www.hillsborohops.com. Friday night's game will be televised live on Comcast SportNet NW at 7 p.m.
