AquaSox lose fifth straight, 8-0 to Volcanoes

KEIZER, Ore. — The miserable run for the Everett AquaSox continued on Sunday.

Leonardo Rojas hit a grand slam as part of a six-run seventh inning and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes hammered Everett 8-0 to give the Sox their fifth straight defeat.

Volcanoes starting pitcher Andrew Leenhouts and two relievers combined for the shutout. Leenhouts allowed three hits in six innings to improve to 7-1 and moved into a tie with Sox pitcher Lars Huijer for most wins in the Northwest League this season.

Everett’s Jack Reinheimer went 2-for-4 and Chantz Mack singled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Salem-Keizer (10-6 second half, 34-21 overall) only outhit Everett 7-6, but five of the Volcanoes’ hits went for extra bases, while Everett (8-8, 31-24) could only muster singles.

The Volcanoes flashed some of that power early in the game against Everett starter Jake Zokan.

For the third time in four games, Salem-Keizer scored in the first inning. John Polonius was hit by a Zokan pitch, moved to third on Ryan Jones’ double to left and scored on a sacrifice fly from Brian Ragira.

The Volcanoes extended their lead when Blake Miller homered on the first pitch of the bottom of the second to make the score 2-0. Miller finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Zokan then settled down, retiring 11 in a row to keep Everett in the game. But Leenhouts was masterful as well, needing just 53 pitches through the first five innings, and Zokan faltered in the seventh.

Shilo McCall led off the inning with a double and Miller followed with an RBI single to end Zokan’s evening. Jose Valdivia relieved Zokan and yielded a single and walk to load the bases. Valdivia then walked Jones to force home another run before Rojas blasted a grand slam to left field to seal the outcome.

Zokan (3-3) took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out five.

The Sox have not led at any point in the series, which ends today with the fifth game at Salem-Keizer.