The Eugene Emeralds just seem to have the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes’ number this season.
For the 10th time in 11 games, the Emeralds have come out on top of their northerly rival, this time taking a 5-1 win Friday night at PK Park on the strength of shortstop Jace Peterson’s two runs and two RBI.
“I don’t know what it is with them, but we always seem to find a way to pull it out,” right fielder Lee Orr said.
The Emeralds started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. With Peterson on second base and Emeralds second baseman Casey McElroy on first base with one out, third baseman Daunel Jones hit a ground ball to Volcanoes third baseman Garrett Buechele, whose throw drew Volcanoes second baseman Kaohi Downing off the base for the first error on the play. McElroy’s takeout slide at second base disrupted Downing, whose throw to first sailed past Volcanoes first baseman Ben Thomas, allowing Peterson to score.
Salem-Keizer came back to score in the top of the second inning when it loaded the bases with one out against Eugene starter Cody Hebner. Hebner gave up a sacrifice fly to left field from Volcanoes left fielder Charles Thomas to score Downing, but the inning ended when Volcanoes center fielder Shawn Payne grounded out to Peterson to end the inning.
Eugene came back to score again in the bottom of the second inning, as Kyle Gaedele led off the inning with a double off the glove of Payne, who made a leaping attempt at a catch, and was driven in on Orr’s single to left-center field.
For the final two innings of Hebner’s four-inning appearance, he found his control, issuing only one walk in the third and fourth innings. In his whole appearance, Hebner gave up one run on two hits and struck out four with three walks.
Neither team got a runner into scoring position until the top of the fifth inning, when the Volcanoes tried to rally against Emeralds reliever Simon Berroa. With runners on first and second with one out, Salem-Keizer shortstop Joe Panik struck out swinging, but Thomas and Payne were running on the pitch and stole third and second base, respectively. Berroa was able to get the next batter, Volcanoes right fielder Brett Krill, to fly out to center fielder Kyle Gaedele to end the inning.
Salem-Keizer got another runner into scoring position in the top of the sixth inning when Downing drew a one-out walk from Berroa and stole second base during the at-bat of Volcanoes catcher Joe Staley. Staley eventually struck out on a checked swing call from home plate umpire Travis Eggerts, which he vehemently disagreed with and was summarily ejected from the game. Buechele then grounded out to Jones to end the inning.
The Emeralds tacked three runs onto their slim lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. After Orr and designated hitter Jose Dore walked to start the inning, Peterson attempted to bunt the pair ahead a base. When he fouled off two bunt attempts, he chose to swing away, and delivered a line-drive two-run triple to the left-center field gap. McElroy drove Peterson in two batters later with a single past a drawn-in Downing, setting the score at its final resting place of 5-1.
“I tried to get the bunt down and unfortunately I couldn’t,” Peterson said. “I got a good pitch to hit and I just drove it to the gap and scored a couple runs.”
Eugene left fielder Justin Miller continued his 13-game hitting streak with a single past Panik at shortstop in the sixth inning, but was 1 for 4 with three strikeouts in the game.
The Emeralds and Volcanoes meet Saturday at 7 p.m. at PK Park in the final game of their three-game series.