Kohlwey, Asuncion lead Tri-City to walk-off win
The Tri-City Dust Devils led it the whole way over the Hillsboro Hops Sunday night at Gesa Stadium, until a four-run top of the ninth gave the Hops the lead and sealed the Dust Devils’ fate.
Except that wasn’t how it went down.
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, a lead off walk by Boomer White and single by Nate Easley set the table for Luis Asuncion to drive in the game-tying run, which allowed Taylor Kohlwey to hit a bloop single that made the Dust Devils (19-18) walk-off winners.
After driving in two important late runs for Hillsboro (18-19) in the opener of the five-game series on Thursday, Marcus Wilson nearly did the Dust Devils in again with a two-run double that scored the go-ahead run in the ninth.
Emmanuel Ramirez scattered four hits and three walks over his six inning start, and Evan Miller tossed a couple of scoreless innings of relief to keep the Hops off the board until the final frame.
The Hops put runners on second and third in the first and loaded the bases in the second, but Ramirez found a way out of both spots and got stronger as the game went on, allowing just three men to reach base in his final four innings and getting two double play balls.
G.K. Young hit his second career home run to lead off the second and record the game’s first score.
After reclaiming the Northwest League North division lead from the Spokane Indians — who lost to the Boise Hawks Sunday — the Dust Devils will be crowned first-half champs if they win or the Indians lose on Monday. Because they hold the head-to-head advantage on the season series, the Indians would win the division if they win and the Dust Devils lose.
Tri-City will conclude its five-game series with Hillsboro, and the first half of its season, at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
Dust Devils 5, Hops 4
Hillsboro ab | r | h | bi | Tri-City ab | r | h | bi | ||
Oberacker lf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Kohlwey lf | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
M.Wilson cf | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | Reed cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
R.Hrndz 3b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Baker ss | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Chigbogu 1b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Young 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Lowery c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Oversrt dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
-Olmeda c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | White 3b | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
J.Andersn dh | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Easley 2b | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Owings rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Redman c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
M.Jffrson 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | a-Savnon ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
A.Walton ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Asncion rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Totals 37 | 4 | 11 | 4 | Totals 32 | 5 | 8 | 4 | ||
Hillsboro | 000 | 000 | 004 | — | 4 |
Tri-City | 010 | 100 | 012 | — | 5 |
E—Mark (2), Oberacker (1), Chigbogu (5), Young (4). DP—Tri-City 2. LOB—Hillsboro 9, Tri-City 7. 2B—M.Wilson (4), Baker (8). HR—Young (2). SF—Overstreet. SB—Wilson (16), Easley 2 (6).
Hillsboro | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Mark | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Betts | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Ri.Smith | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Eveld BS, 1 L, 1-1 | 1/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Tri-City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
E.Ramirez | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
E.Miller H, 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Di.Lopez BS, 1 W, 4-0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
WP—E. Ramirez. Ejections—Hops manager Shelley Duncan; Luke Lowery; Hunter Redman. Umpires—H, Darius Ghani; F, Andrew Barrett . T—3:16. A—1,574.
This story was originally published July 24, 2016 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Kohlwey, Asuncion lead Tri-City to walk-off win."