EVERETT — Phillips Castillo hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving the Everett AquaSox a 5-3 victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes on Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Austin Cousino led off the 10th by grounding a single to right and took second on Adam Martin’s flyout to deep center. Then on a 1-1 count Castillo turned on a pitch and put it well over the left-field fence to end the game.
Martin also homered and Cousino finished 3-for-4 for Everett (10-25).
Jonathan Jones and and Fernando Pujadas homered and Christian Arroyo went 3-for-5 for Salem-Keizer (17-18).
It looked like Everett had won it in the bottom of the eighth inning. With the score tied 2-2, the Sox manufactured a run without the ball getting past the mound. Nelson Ward walked, went to second when Cousino was hit by a pitch, took third on Martin’s sacrifice bunt and then scored on a wild pitch, giving Everett the lead.
But Salem-Keizer got the run back in the top of the ninth. Pujadas, leading off the inning, lined a ball to right-center field that barely cleared the fence for a home run. That tied it back up.
It looked like the Sox were going to win it again in the bottom of the ninth when they loaded the bases and Ward hit a line drive toward right field, but Volcanoes second baseman Brett Kay leapt and snatched it out of the air to force the game to extra innings.
Short hops
Austin Cousino hit his team-leading fifth homer for Everett on Thursday, tying him for fifth in the NWL. Cousino was selected in the third round of the 2014 draft by the Seattle Mariners primarily because of his defense in center field. However, he’s on pace for 27 homers over a 162-game schedule. … Through Thursday, Everett had just one leader in the Northwest League individual statistical categories, as outfielder/first baseman Sheehan Planas-Arteaga was tied with Spokane’s Marcus Greene for the league lead in walks with 20 in 22 games. He had more walks than hits (12). … Everett’s Chris Mariscal went 1-for-3 Thursday to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, and he’s hit in 24 of the 26 games in which he’s had a plate appearance. However, during the 13-game streak, he had more than one hit just once. … The first half of the NWL season concludes with Everett’s three-game road series against Spokane, which begins today. The Sox were eliminated from North Division contention long ago, but they could still have a say in the outcome. Spokane went into Friday in first place in the division, but the Indians were just two games ahead of Vancouver. The team that wins the first half clinches a playoff berth.
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