The Vancouver Canadians jumped past the Hillsboro Hops, 5-3, thanks to a three-run inning in the eighth.  The Hops had slowly built a 3-1 lead only to see it fall apart in the later innings.

Tyler Badamo started for the Hops and controlled the visiting team for six innings giving up only one run on seven hits.  Badamo ran into some initial trouble loading the bases in the first but he was able to pitch out of it thanks to some fine fielding behind him and a double play.  Vancouver’s lone run under Tyler’s watch came in the third with a Kevin Vicuna lead-off double followed by consecutive singles by Kacey Clemens and David Jacob.  Badamo left after six innings with the score 3-1.

Kevin Ginkel followed on the mound and retired the side in the seventh after a lead-off single by Deiferson Barreto.  It was in the eighth where Ginkel started to run into trouble.  David Jacob lead off with a single to left followed by a ground-rule double from Riley Adams.  With two men on and the potential go-ahead run at the plate, Matt Peacock (L, 0-1) came on in relief.

The Canadians wouldn’t leave without their two runs waiting for them on board.  Peacock’s first batter, Logan Warmoth, doubled both runners home and tied the game.  Cullen Large singled before the inning was over to score Warmoth and Vancouver had the lead for the first time in the game, pinning the loss on Peacock.

Dalton Rodriguez (W, 4-4) pitched five middle innings of the game for the win.  William Ouellette (S, 7) closed out the last two innings for the save.  Ouellette shut down the Hops keeping them hitless.

Vancouver outhit the Hops 13-5 on the night with all but one Canadian batter hitting safely at the plate and five batters with multi-hit games, including three doubles and a triple.

Daulton Varsho had the sole extra base hit for the Hops when he led off the second inning with a double.  Daulton came home on a Ryan Dobson sacrifice fly.  Hillsboro started the scoring in the first when Camden Duzenack struck out on a wild pitch but still reached first base safely.  After watching two fellow Hops strike out, he then scored on Pavin Smith’s single to right.  Hillsboro’s final run came in the fifth when Ryan Dobson reached first on a fielder’s choice and eventually scored on a Duzenack single.

With the loss, the Hillsboro Hops (6-5) remain tied with the Southern Division co-leading Eugene Emeralds.  The win kept the Vancouver Canadians (5-6) on pace with the Northern Division leading Spokane Indians, three games behind.

Both teams return to Ron Tonkin Field for the final game and rubber match of the five-game series.  The teams are tied 2-2.  Expected pitchers are RHP Jhoan Duran (1-2) for the Hops and RHP Nate Pearson for the Canadians.

Hops notes: Current Hops Daulton Varsho was named after former Portland Beaver Darren Daulton, a former teammate of Varsho’s father with the Philadelphia Phillies.  Darren Daulton passed away today due to brain cancer.  He was 55.  Darren played for the Portland Beavers from 1984 to 1985.

Boxscore

By Greg Stoker
@GDStoker