De Jesus Walks It Off With Homer In Extras

VANCOUVER, BC – A walk-off home run from #21 Blue Jays prospect Alex De Jesus secured a series win for the Canadians over the Eugene Emeralds (Giants) on Sunday in a 2-0, ten-inning triumph at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Neither side had found the scoreboard when De Jesus came to the plate in the bottom of the tenth. With one out and the placed runner at second, the Santo Domingo, DR native hammered the first pitch from Tyler Myrick (L, 0-1) to dead centerfield to clear the 25-foot wall and send the A&W Family Fun Sunday crowd home happy with a 2-0 C’s win.

A crisp, quick game saw the first nine innings fly by in less than two hours. Neither side put together much of a threat in regulation; Eugene had two runners reach in an inning only once – and reliever Eric Pardinho stranded both in scoring position – while the Canadians never had a man reach third before De Jesus’ round tripper.

Hunter Gregory made the start for Vancouver and turned in his finest outing of the year with three scoreless frames that featured two hits, no walks and three punch outs. Eugene hurler Carson Whisenhunt – San Francisco’s #8 prospect – struck out six and allowed one hit in his four stanzas.

Pardinho, Naswell Paulino, Mason Fluharty and TJ Brock (W, 3-0) combined on the final seven innings of scoreless baseball to blank the high-powered Eugene offense for the first time this year. It was the second shutout pitched by the C’s in 2023 and their first game that went to extra innings.

With the win, Vancouver takes the series four games to two and will head into tomorrow’s off day one game above .500 (9-8) and a game and a half out of first place in the six-team Northwest League.

The C’s travel south this week for six games at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro – their former home-away-from-home – as they meet the Hops (Diamondbacks) for the first time this season. Tuesday’s series opener is slated for 6:35 p.m. with coverage available on CanadiansBaseball.com and the Sportsnet Radio Network.