EVERETT — Because of Sunday’s early afternoon start, the Eugene Emeralds didn’t bother taking batting practice before their game against the Everett AquaSox.
Instead, they waited until the start of the game to conduct BP.
The Emeralds tattooed Everett’s pitching, pounding out 19 hits
in routing the Sox 14-4.
The distinctive sound of the ball rocketing off the bat was heard early and often. The Emeralds had nine extra-base hits as they played ping pong with the Everett Memorial Stadium wall.
Everett starter Bennett Whitmore absorbed the brunt of Eugene’s assault. Ten of the 13 batters Whitmore faced reached base, five of those on extra-base hits. Eugene already led 4-0 before the crowd even had the chance to settle into their seats to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.
“They had 19 hits and they got a lot of them early and put us in a bit of a hole,” Everett manager Scott Steinmann lamented. “They just kept hitting the ball pretty good. We didn’t pitch down as well as we should have today and we paid the price.”
Donavan Tate led the charge for Eugene, going 5-for-6 with a double, triple and four runs scored. Cory Spangenberg and Clint Moore added home runs and combined to drive in nine runs for the Emeralds (8-2), who won their fifth straight.
“It felt good to get things going,” Tate said. “We’ve been kind of struggling a bit at the plate and it felt good for everybody to start swinging the bats and get a good win.”
Danny Lopez homered to lead Everett (3-7), which dropped its fourth straight. The Sox will try to avoid being swept in the three-game series tonight.
The game’s tone was set during the first three batters of the game. Moore led the game off by rifling a double down the left-field line. Tate followed by dumping a single into center to put runners at the corners. That brought Spangenberg to the plate, and the first-round draft pick belted a three-run shot to right center, giving the Emeralds a 3-0 lead about two minutes after the opening pitch.
Later in the inning Zach Komentani drove in another run with a rocket double off the left-field wall as Eugene led 4-0 before the Sox even had the chance to bat.
Everett tried to respond. The Sox managed to push two runs across the plate in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit to two. Mario Yepez led off with a single, then on Marcus Littlewood’s slow roller to short Moore threw the ball away. Yepez scored from first and Littlewood took third. Lopez’s sacrifice fly to right brought home Littlewood to make it 4-2.
But the Emeralds continued to hit the ball hard against Whitmore in the second. After Moore led off the inning by reaching on an error, Tate ripped a double off the center-field wall to put runners on second and third. Spangenberg followed by lining a double to the right-center gap, plating both runners and making it 6-2. The lead was never again threatened and the Emeralds gradually padded their advantage against Everett’s bullpen until it became a laugher.
“We got down and our offense is not clicking on all cylinders yet, so it was tough for us to climb back in there,” Steinmann said. “We had the bases loaded that one time with one out when it was 10-4 (in the bottom of the seventh). One swing of the bat could have changed the game a little bit and put us right back in there. But we came up on the short end and didn’t take advantage of that opportunity.”
Greg Gonzalez earned the win in relief for Eugene. The only baserunner he allowed in his three innings is when Lopez led off the sixth by lining a homer, his first of the season, over the wall in right-center. For Gonzalez, who struck out four, it was his first victory as a professional.
Whitmore suffered the loss for Everett. The left-hander ended up allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk in one-plus innings of work. He fell to 0-1.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
