The Eugene Emeralds finally broke “the curse of the first game.”
With a win over Vancouver Monday night, the Ems won the first game of a series for only the second time this season, in their 14th series of the season. The Ems toppled the Canadians 6-3.
The Ems also broke another streak that they would rather forget. Eugene went errorless for the first time in 20 games.
Jon Brandt picked up his first professional win Monday night. The former UCLA standout pitched six strong innings before leaving the bases with two men on in the sixth. Brandt also got strong relief performances from Mike Hoyt and Juan Mejia, who preserved the starter’s six-run lead.
On the offensive side, Trevor Brown was one of the stars Monday night for the second time in two games. Brown drove in two runs Saturday afternoon in a 6-4 win over Everett, then knocked in three more with a bases-loaded double in the top of the sixth inning Monday night. Brown’s double put the Ems up 6-0, and they would not relinquish the lead.
The win Monday night moved the Ems to 22-31 on the season, but Eugene is still flailing in the basement of the Northwest League’s West Division. The Ems needed to get the best of Everett in the teams’ recent three-game series in order to overtake the third-place AquaSox. However, the Emeralds managed to take only one from the visitors.
Before that home series with Everett, Eugene played three games at the home of the AquaSox, and also went 1-2 in that series. The back-to-back series victories for Everett helped it open a one-game lead into a three-game lead Monday.
Despite the losses, Eugene continues to swing its bats well. Shortstop Jason Bartlett is a fixture at the top of the NWL’s list of batting leaders and trails Boise’s Syketo Anderson by 55 percentage points. Eugene slugger Greg Sain was tied for the league lead in home runs before Vancouver’s Matt Allegra hit a two-run bomb against the Ems Monday.
Speedster Marcus Nettles, Eugene’s leadoff man, continues to impress his speed on opposing pitchers. Nettles leads the league with 23 stolen bases, three more than the second-place player. Nettles’ statistic is most impressive because he did it even after joining the Ems late, when his Miami Hurricanes won the College World Series.
The Ems will play two more games at Vancouver, then take an off day before returning home for a five-game series with Boise. The Hawks lead the NWL’s East Division by seven games. The Ems have 23 games remaining in the season.