The Eugene Emeralds battled back from an early deficit to defeat the Everett Aquasox 5-4 in a thrilling game that came down to the final out.
With the game tied, the Emeralds had a chance to end the game. Jared Young led things off with a single, only to be forced out at second when Jhonny Bethencourt hit a shallow grounder. Kwang-Min Kwon followed that with a fly-out.
The Ems were down to their last out, and the game was in the hands of Rafael Narea. With the count at 1-2, he hit a shallow fly ball into center field, landing just short of Brayan Hernandez. Bethencourt was off and running as soon as the ball was hit, and managed to slide across the plate just before the throw from center field arrived home. It was a triumphant victory for the team, and the stadium erupted as the Emeralds rushed the field.
“I just was running as hard as I could,” Bethencourt said. “As I’m passing second, the manager is saying, ‘go home, go home,’ so I went home and we got the run.”
Feliciano attributed the win to strong base running from his team, particularly compared to the last night’s game against the Sox.
“Last night we made a lot of mental errors and mistakes on the bases,” Feliciano said. “Tonight, coming back here and making those adjustments … it was a lot of fun to watch.”
The early phases of the game were marked by inconsistent pitching from Emerald’s pitcher Javier Assad, and the team’s offense seemed unable to provide him with any support. Despite the rocky start, the Ems were tenacious and managed to fight their way back.
The Aquasox made their presence known in the second inning when third baseman Johnny Adams crushed the first pitch of the inning over the left field wall. Onil Pena and David Banuelos followed that with a pair of singles, prompting Emeralds manager Jesus Feliciano to talk to his pitcher. Despite the talk, Assad gave up a triple to Brayan Hernandez, putting the Sox up 3-0. Assad did manage to recover, and ended the inning without further damage.
The Emeralds responded with a single run in the bottom of the second. Bethencourt grounded out, sending Brandon Hughes home in the process. Despite a double from Kwon, the Ems were unable to add any more runs.
Assad delivered a shut-down third inning, though the Ems were once again unable to score. The top of the fourth brought another homerun for the Aquasox, this time coming from Onil Pena. Again, however, Assad went on to recover.
The Emeralds surged back into the game in the fifth inning. With two outs, Narea sent a line drive double into left field. Zach Davis proceeded to drive him in with an RBI single, leaving the Ems down two. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Aramis Ademan drilled a home run over the right field wall. Suddenly, the game was tied.
Both sides proved unable to break the stalemate for the ensuing several innings. Jhon Romero came in to spell Assad, and delivered three perfect innings of scoreless baseball. The Emeralds were shut out as well however, courtesy of lights-out relief work from JP Sears.
Luis Aquino replaced Romero in the ninth, and promptly took down the next three Aquasox batters.
The Emeralds will face the Aquasox again tomorrow at 7:05 p.m.
Follow Aaron Alter on Twitter @aaronalter95