The Eugene Emeralds had the chance to do something Sunday in Everett, Washington, that they haven’t been able to do all year: take down the mighty Everett AquaSox in a series.
In the two series between the teams prior, Everett has had their way. Entering Sunday however, the Emeralds had a chance to take down the only team they haven’t beaten in a series this year after the two squads split the first six games.
Unfortunately for the Emeralds however, the AquaSox used the long ball to their advantage to claim the 7-6 victory and series win. The Emeralds have now dropped all three series against the AquaSox thus far.
After Sean Roby quickly got the Emeralds on the board with an RBI single, Everett had a response. Connor Hoover lined a two-run bomb just an inning later to give Everett the advantage.
The Emerald bats came back in the next half inning in a big way. With Tyler Fitzgareld on second, Armani Smith sent a frozen rope to the left field wall to tie the game at two. The next batter, Ricardo Genovés, kept the rally going with an RBI single of his own to give the Emeralds a 3-2 lead.
The AquaSox got all those runs back and then some in the fourth off a Justin Lavey three-run blast to right. The home run chased Emerald starter Jake Dahlberg out of the game, and it gave Everett back the lead.
Everett scratched across a pair of runs in the fifth to grow the lead to 7-3 when the Emeralds started to claw their way back.
Smith came up big again in the seventh with an RBI single to cut the lead to three.
Next inning, it was Carter Aldrete’s turn. With runners on the corners and no outs, Aldrete grounded into a double play which isn’t ideal, but it inched the Emeralds closer to the lead.
With the score now 7-5, Everett gave the ball to their closer, Ben Onyshko, who came into the game anything but reliable with just two saves and a 4.88 ERA.
Fitzgerald led off the inning with a double over the center fielder’s head. He then moved up to third on a sacrifice fly, and scored off a drop third strike. The score was now 7-6 in the ninth.
Just as the Emeralds had a rally brewing, Genovés struck out to end the game.
With the 7-6 win, Everett moves to 51-26 while the Emeralds fall to 44-34. They are now 7.5 games out of first.
The Emeralds will be back in action in Eugene this Tuesday. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m., as the Tri-City Dust Devils and former Duck Kenyon Yovan come to town.
