The Eugene Emeralds scored in all but one inning in their series finale against the Everett AquaSox and cruised to a 10-4 win at PK Park on Wednesday night.
Eugene moves into a tie with Hillsboro for first place in the Northwest League South with the win, and the Emeralds have won their last three series.
“Good win, very important for our first half,” Emeralds head coach Jesus Feliciano said. “We’re trying to clinch this first half and I know how hard our guys are working.”
The Emeralds plated three of their ten runs in the third inning to help them take the final game of their five game series against Everett. Overall, it was a dominating series for Eugene as it took 4-of-5 games from the AquaSox to improved to 20-14 on the season.
Offensively, the Emeralds had no trouble figuring out Everett’s pitching. Four Emeralds recorded two or more hits, highlighted by games from Aramis Ademan, Jhonny Bethencourt and Brandon Hughes.
Ademan went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a solo home run, his team-leading fourth of the year. Bethencourt scored four runs to go along with his three hits while Brandon Hughes went 4-for-5 with an RBI.
Kwang-Min Kwon also went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
“Baseball is contagious,” Feliciano said. “Maybe tomorrow we’ll have somebody else stepping up. … I’m very happy that we’re playing the way we are because I know it’s a great time for us as a team.”
The Emeralds scored their first run on an Ademan solo home run to center field. Their second run came on a one-out single by Kwon which scored Hughes, who led the second inning off with a double.
Already ahead 2-0, Eugene plated three more runs in the third inning to take a commanding 5-0 lead. They added to that lead with solo runs in the fourth and sixth innings to make Wednesday the seventh game the Emeralds have scored seven or more runs.
The AquaSox scored once in the fourth and fifth innings and chased Emeralds’ starter Enrique De Los Rios in the fifth. De Los Rios pitched five innings and allowed seven hits, two runs (one earned) and struck out three for his second win of the season.
One of those runs came off a solo home run courtesy of Oregon alum, Austin Grebeck, his second of the season. The former Duck, who was selected in the 21st round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners, went 2-for-4 and scored two runs.
Everett showed late fight as they tried to dig out of its hole. Back-to-back doubles to lead off the seventh inning yielded two more runs for the AquaSox, but the Emeralds remained in control 7-4.
Eugene tacked on more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to extend its lead to 10-4.
Next up, the Emeralds hit the road for a five-game series against the Tri-City Dust Devils, starting Thursday.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris