Vancouver Canadians Take Third Straight From Hillsboro Hops, 6-2
Sunday afternoon, the Hillsboro Hops handed the Vancouver Canadians the victory 6-2. The Canadians scored six runs with the help of five Hops errors and two batters hit by a pitch with only two hits.
The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning when Earl (the) Burl III was hit by a pitch from Hops starting pitcher Tyler Bolton. Burl then stole second with JC Cardenas batting. Cardenas sacrificed to right field to move Burl over to third. Lane Thomas singled to right, bringing Burl home for the game’s first score. Gabriel Cenas stepped to the plate and watched Thomas steal second. Cenas then slapped a grounder to Alcantara whose throw to first went wild and allowed Thomas to score from second. The Canadians took an early 2-0 lead.
The Hops weren’t able to answer back until the top of the sixth when they managed to tie the game, if only for a short moment. Zack Nehrir walked setting the stage for a Stephen Dezzi home run that hit the top of the six-inch wide right field fence before bouncing over.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Canadians exploded for four runs on only one hit. Pitcher Mike Cetta came in to relieve Tyler Bolton for the Hops and proceeded to hit Ryan Metzler with the first pitch. Kevin Garcia came to the plate and Metzler stole second in a close play at the bag. Garcia walked to put two men on base with no outs. Juan Tejada bunted back to Cetta and safely reached first when Cetta decided to throw to third instead. The throw was not in time and the bases were loaded.
Earl (the) Burl III singled to right clearing the bases with an assist of a wild throw. Ryan Metzler easily scored from third and Kevin Garcia hustled in from second. When Juan Tejada attempted to go home from first on the same play, left fielder Gerard Hernandez threw a lightning attempt to cut Tejada off at the plate. Instead, the throw caromed off the back stop and back towards third base in foul territory leaving Tejada safe at the plate. Burl took second on the wild throw.
JC Cardenas grounded out to second baseman Fernery Ozuna and Ear Burl III moved to third. Cetta threw another wild pitch and Burl scored the final run of the game.
All in all, the Canadians took advantage of six Hops errors even though only one run was unearned.
Pitcher Tyler Bolton pitched six fine innings, despite the errors, allowing only one run on one hit with one walk with six strikeouts. Mike Cetta (1-1) took the loss
For the Canadians, Clinton Hollan pitched the first six inning with similar numbers. Hollan allowed two runs on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Pitcher Travis Bergen went two and one third innings of excellent no-hit relief to earn the win. Bergen struck out three.
The Vancouver Canadians (6-5) and Hillsboro Hops (5-6) meet again tomorrow night (6/29) for the fourth in a five game series. The Canadians lead the series 3-0.
The Hops dropped down to a half game under the now division leading Eugene Emeralds. The Canadians moved past the Tri-City Dust Devils and are now within two games of division leading Everett Aquasox.
By Greg Stoker
