EVERETT — Trevor Mitsui is enjoying his return to the state of Washington.
The former Shorewood star and University of Washington player was 2-for-4 with a solo home run and an RBI double to account for both Hillsboro runs as the Hops topped Everett 2-1 Monday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Mitsui, who also homered in the first game of the series, led off the top of the second inning with a solo home run to right center field that hit the top of the outfield wall and bounced over to put Hillsboro (11-8) up 1-0. The Shorewood alum added an insurance run in the top of the ninth with a two-out RBI double to double the Hops’ lead in front of Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin, who was in attendance.
Mitsui’s homer was the first of just two hits allowed by Everett starter Lane Ratliff (0-2), who also struck out six in 62/3 innings. Ratliff’s counterpart, Hillsboro starting pitcher Cody Reed (2-1), also contributed to the pitchers duel with 10 strikeouts in six shutout innings. Opponents are hitting just .196 against Reed this season.
Everett (11-8) had a runner reach third base in the seventh and eighth innings but couldn’t get a runner across home until the Frogs got a solo home run by Logan Taylor in the bottom of the ninth inning. Catcher Arturo Nieto led Everett batting 2-for-3 as the Frogs dropped their fourth consecutive contest.
AquaSox struggle
The Everett strong start to the season might prove crucial to their first-half success now that the Frogs find themselves struggling a bit as the second month of the season starts.
Everett had lost a season-high three straight games heading into Monday night’s contest against the Hillsboro Hops. However, the Frogs’ offense leads the league with 111 runs scored and 169 hits going into Monday night’s contest. Everett is also just .001 behind Boise for the highest NWL batting average (.274) and has manager Rob Mummau confident his team will find its winning ways again sooner, rather than later.
“Just got to stick to your approach,” Mummau said. “You can’t get too high or too low. If things are going good you can’t get too high, if there’s a stretch where you lose a few games in a row you can’t get down. It’s all about sticking to your approach and believing in it. At the end of the day it’ll all work out.”
After suffering its first series loss of the season against Tri-City, Everett fell to the Hops in back-to-back games. Hillsboro topped the AquaSox 8-7 in 10 innings last Saturday and 11-4 Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve lost a few in a row and that’s baseball,” Mummau said. “The guys are still battling hard and they’re trying their best. That’s all we can ask for.”
Even in the losses the Frogs have still swung their bats well. The AquaSox have six batters in the Northwest League’s top 15 in batting average including Luis Liberato (.345), Drew Jackson (.328) and Ryan Uhl (.306).
Also coming on strong for Everett is Braden Bishop. Despite the Frogs’ losses, Bishop is batting .438 with five runs scored over Everett’s last five games. Bishop, the Seattle Mariners’ third-round pick in the 2015 draft, is hitting .278 this season.
“Braden’s done a great job for us all year,” Mummau said. “He’s a good hitter and a very good fielder.”
Even with the losing streak Everett finds itself atop the NWL standings, thanks in part to a strong start to the season. The AquaSox started the year with a 10-3 run, before going 1-4 in their last five games. The Frogs still have a two-game lead in the NWL North standings and will remain in first place regardless of what happened across the league Monday night.
The first half of the NWL season ends July 28 with the top team in the North and South divisions clinching playoff berths.
“The guys are swinging and staying aggressive,” Mummau said. “We’re getting in good-hitting counts (which is key).”
On deck
The Sox have two more games against Hillsboro including Wednesday’s series finale which has a special 11:05 a.m. start time because of Kid’s Day. Everett starter and Mariners top prospect Luiz Gohara, (1-2, 4.08 earned-run average) will get the start for the Frogs.
Thursday marks the start of a five-game series against Boise which, at 493 miles, is the farthest Northwest League city from Everett Memorial Stadium.
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