Spokane Indians sputter on mound, at plate, in doubleheader sweep at Eugene | NWL baseball
May 2-EUGENE, Ore. - The Eugene Emeralds showed why they lead the Northwest League by five games, winning one blowout and one close comeback against the last-place Spokane Indians in a doubleheader sweep at PK Park on Saturday.
In the nightcap, the Emeralds (20-6) pushed two across in the bottom of the sixth to escape with a 4-3 win, and in the first game they blew out the Indians (9-17) 11-0 to earn a pair of seven-inning wins.
The second game featured Spokane-area starting pitchers for both teams - Stu Flesland (Mt. Spokane) for the Indians and Hunter Dryden (Deer Park) for the Emeralds.
The Ems jumped on Flesland in the first inning. Lisbel Diaz led off with a double and Gavin Klein walked. With two down Jakob Christian laced a double to left plating both to make it 2-0.
The Indians finally got to Dryden in the fifth, when Tommy Hopfe evened the score with a two-run homer, his second of the season. Eugene went to the bullpen, but the Indians added on when Tevin Tucker walked against reliever Cole Hiller, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Jacob Humphrey.
Christian started the sixth-inning rally with a single off reliever Bryson Hammer. He went to second on a single by Zane Zielinski and beat the throw home on a bloop one-out single by Onil Perez. Zielinski moved up to third on the throw and scored the go-ahead run on a groundout.
The Ems scored early and often in the early game, putting up two runs in the first, three in the second and five in the fourth. In total, Eugene pounded out 12 hits - including Dakota Jordan's two-run home run in the fourth.
The first-place Emeralds (19-6) hit a season-high for runs scored. Jordan was among five Emeralds with two hits apiece. Ems starter Yunior Marte struck out five over five shutout innings and reliever Esmerlin Vinicio provided two shutout innings of relief.
The Indians (9-16) went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.
Indians starter Brody Brecht (0-2) was roughed up for five runs on six hits and three walks in just 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Hunter Omlid fared no better, giving up five runs on four hits and two walks over 1 2/3 innings.
Indians (9-16) shortstop Tevin Tucker went 1 for 4 with a stolen base, his league-leading 13th of the season and the sixth straight game he's swiped a base - the longest such streak in the NWL this season.
The series concludes Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
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