Columbia River Offense Stays in Pits

A Tri-City Dust Devils (10-19 2H) offense experiencing one of its best stretches of the year was shut down by the visiting Everett AquaSox (13-16 2H) Saturday night, netting only one hit in a 6-0 loss to the visitors at Gesa Stadium.

Playing as the Columbia River Rooster Tails on the yearly hydroplane race weekend, the home nine got a one-out single from SS Adrian Placencia in the bottom of the 1^st. A double play wiped out the early hit, though, and four Everett pitchers combined to not allow another for the rest of the night.

Columbia River used a fielding error and back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 2^nd inning. LF Landon Wallace hit a long drive down the left field line, threatening to clear the bases and give the Rooster Tails an early lead. Wallace’s counterpart, AquaSox LF Jared Sundstrom, tracked the fly ball down for a running catch that ended the inning.

Everett would dent the scoreboard for the first time in the 4^th inning, getting the first run of the night on a wild pitch getting away from Columbia River starter Joel Hurtado (7-6). The big blow of the game came later in the frame when AquaSox CF Bill Knight, who had robbed Rooster Tails 3B Chad Stevens of extra bases with an incredible diving catch ending the bottom of the 3^rd, launched a three-run home run over the left field wall to give his team a 4-0 advantage.

The Everett bullpen took the baton from starter Marcelo Perez and threw five no-hit innings, including two perfect innings from middle reliever Allan Saathoff (1-2). The righty combined with fellow hurlers Bryan Pope and Tyler Cleveland to strike out seven and allow only one baserunner, via walk, for the remainder of the game.

Two more runs went on the board for the AquaSox to put the game further out of reach in the 8^th and, again, it was Knight doing the damage. The right-hand hitter lined a two-run triple down the right field line, finishing up a 3-for-4 night with 5 RBI and coming just a double shy of the cycle.

Hurtado, despite taking the loss, gave Columbia River his longest start of the season in going 6.2 innings and striking out three. Rooster Tails righty Roman Phansalkar covered the rest, allowing the two-run triple but nothing else and keeping his fellow bullpen members fresh for Sunday’s series finale.

The sixth and final game of the weeklong series between Columbia River and Everett has been scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start Sunday night at Gesa Stadium, where it’s another Red Out the Park night. Fans wearing red will receive raffle tickets for the chance to win prizes, with fans in Los Angeles Angels gear getting extra chances to win.

Adjusting their rotation, the Rooster Tails will send right-hander Jorge Marcheco (2-5, 5.52 ERA) to the mound for the start, his second of the week. Righty Shaddon Peavyhouse (2-5, 5.98 ERA) will also make a second start for the AquaSox.

Broadcast coverage of the game will begin with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. both here and on the MiLB app, with video coverage on Bally Live and MiLB.tv.

Tickets for Sunday's series finale are on sale now with special ticket rates available for groups of 20 or more. For more information on Dust Devils single game, season, mini-plan (11, 22, 33) and group tickets, visit the team’s official ticketing site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.