Hops Walk it off for Second Straight Game 

Hillsboro, OR (April 7, 2024) – The Hillsboro Hops and Everett AquaSox closed out Opening Weekend on Sunday at Hillsboro Ballpark. The day after a 14-inning marathon slugfest, the final game of the series was a nine-inning thriller that ended with another walk-off hit. Manny Peña hit a walk-off double to end the game yesterday and Kevin Sim was the hero in the series finale with a walk-off hit of his own.

Joe Elbis, who made 14 starts last season for Hillsboro took the bump for the third game of the year. Ben Williamson continued his hot hitting for the AquaSox in the first inning with a double, but was stranded on base to end the inning. Elbis struck out two in the first.

Hillsboro went down quietly in the bottom half of the first inning, but put up a three-spot in second. The 6-8 hitters (Sim, Fernandez and Corniel) all had RBIs in the inning, giving the Hops a 3-0 lead against Brandyn Garcia.

As we have seen all series long, an immediate answer came from the trailing team. 24 innings of baseball later, we had our first home run of the weekend. Jared Sundstrom went deep with a solo home run to bring his squad to within two, his fourth professional homer.

Joe Elbis blanked the AquaSox in the next two innings and finished five complete innings while striking out four. Brandyn Garcia posted a 1.80 ERA last season in nine games and would allow three runs in four innings in his first start of 2024.

Shane Telfer made his Hillsboro Hops debut in relief of Joe Elbis in the sixth inning and worked around a single and a walk to pitch a scoreless inning. Telfer again allowed a walk and single in the seventh inning and would again post a zero on the scoreboard. The Hops held on to the 3-1 lead entering the bottom of the frame.

There was a runner on second when Telfer exited the game with two outs in the eighth, but he would be stranded there as Eli Saul got Batista to fly out to end the inning.

Peniel Otaño entered the game in the ninth and walked the first two batters he faced. The next batter Williamson lined a ball to the outfield, but it was caught by Crenshaw for the first out. Sundstrom was at the dish with two runners on and one out and he walked, the third walk issued by Otaño in the inning. The bases were loaded for RJ Schreck who drilled a ball to the deepest part of the park, but it was caught on the track by Pintar. One run scored, but then the relay throw got away from Kevin Sim and allowed another run to score, tying the game at three.

Jack Hurley legged out a leadoff double to start the bottom of the ninth inning against Stefan Raeth, giving the Hops a runner in scoring position with nobody out. Kevin Sim was the next Hop at the dish and he split the right-centerfield gap on the fourth pitch he saw from Raeth, a line drive base hit that ended the game. Sim is now 5-for-13 to start the season.

Everett finished the game 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base in the game. Jack Hurley and Andrew Pintar each had two-hit games, with Kevin Sim adding three hits in the Hops’ win.

The Hops will head North of the border for the first road trip of 2024 as they take on the Vancouver Canadians starting on Tuesday in Canada. First pitch on Tuesday will be at 7:05, with the pre-game show starting at 6:50 on Rip City Radio 620.