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<< Previous   of   Next >> Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Everett AquaSox catcher Juan Fuentes (left) tags out Merchants base runner Jace Sloan in the third inning. The Frogs rallied twice late in the game and eventually beat the Merchants 8-7.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, June 19, 2009 AquaSox come back to win Everett Cup thriller Frogs overcome a 7-6 deficit, winning with two runs in bottom of the ninth By Nick Patterson Herald Writer EVERETT -- At first glance it should have been a mismatch. But this was no ordinary Everett Cup contest. In a barn burner that maybe shouldn't have been much of a surprise, the professional Everett AquaSox twice had to claw from behind late to overcome the amateur Everett Merchants 8-7 Thursday night, capturing the sixth annual Everett Cup. In a thriller at Everett Memorial Stadium, the AquaSox rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to overturn a 7-6 deficit. Hawkins Gebbers' two-out, RBI single -- his fourth hit of the game -- gave the Sox the win and prevented a second upset in three years. In 2007, the Merchants defeated the AquaSox in the exhibition game, which serves as the Sox's warmup for the Northwest League season. The Sox are now 5-1 in Everett Cup games. "We had some sloppy baserunning, and our pitchers went too deep into counts," Sox manager John Tamargo said. "But it's the first day, we used everyone, no one had been on the mound yet. Now the jitters are out, let's see what we can do." Welington Dotel slugged two home runs and Anthony Phillips also homered for the Sox, who open their season Saturday in Vancouver, B.C. Josh Short went 4-for-5, while Eric Rodland and Beau Blacken each added three hits to lead the Merchants. In most years, the annual meeting between the AquaSox, the Seattle Mariners' short-season Class A affiliate, and the Merchants, a summer team made up primarily of local college players, is a talent teeter-totter weighted heavily toward the AquaSox end. But this year was a different matter. The AquaSox are not at full strength, primarily because the stream of players from the recently-completed amateur draft has yet to arrive. Meanwhile, the Merchants fielded a bulked-up lineup that included three former pros -- Short, Rodland and Blacken -- who recently played at higher levels than the Northwest League. And that normalization of the talent levels showed. The Merchant pitchers threw just as hard as the Sox pitchers, the Merchant hitters nearly matched the AquaSox hit for hit, and the result was in doubt the entire game. The lead changed four times in the final three innings. "I thought we played with them every step of the way," Merchants manager Harold Pyatte said. "But we didn't match their power, that was evident." It looked like the Merchants were headed for another upset when they rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-6 lead. Rodland's two-out RBI double over the head of left fielder Mario Yepez put the Merchants ahead. But the Sox, who scored three in the bottom of the eighth to turn around a 5-3 deficit, came back again in the bottom of the ninth. They loaded the bases with nobody out on Guy Welsh's single and two walks. Pitcher Kevin Spaulding managed to induce Dotel into a grounder that forced Welsh at home. But Ben Billingsley's sacrifice fly to center tied it. Then Gebbers grounded a single past diving third baseman Evan Churlin, scoring Kalian Sams from third and ending the topsy-turvy game. The game's first six innings were virtually dead even, the Sox taking a slim 3-2 lead. The fun began in the seventh. First, the Merchants struck for three runs in the top of the seventh. The Merchants loaded the bases with no outs and scored single runs on third baseman Deybis Benitez's error, Blacken's sacrifice fly and pinch hitter Nick Meehan's RBI single, making it 5-3. But the Sox surged back ahead with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Dotel led off with his second homer of the game, a line-drive blast to center field. Gebbers drove in the tying run with an RBI double, though he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Then with two out Phillips lofted a high solo homer to right to give the Sox the apparent win. Not so fast. The Merchants regained the lead in the top of the ninth with two more runs, Kirby Young's sacrifice fly preceding Rodland's go-ahead double. But it wasn't enough for the Merchants as the Sox rallied one last time. The Merchants let the Sox know they meant business right from the start, rapping out four hits in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead, a fielder's choice grounder by Jace Sloan and a broken-bat single by Blacken plating the runs. But the AquaSox countered with four hits of their own in the bottom of the first to tie it up, Gerardo Avila lining an RBI single off the right-center wall and Sams popping a run-scoring triple off the center-field wall. The teams then traded zeroes for four innings before the Sox grabbed the lead in the sixth, Dotel going the opposite way for a solo home run to right, giving the Sox a 3-2 advantage. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. 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