Frogs can’t catch
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, August 9, 2001
Errors help Ems beat AquaSox 13-8
By John McDonald
Herald Writer
EVERETT — To use a football cliche, the defense was on the field too long.
By the time Thursday’s Everett AquaSox game ended nearly 3 1/2 hours after it began with a 13-8 Eugene win at Everett Memorial Stadium, every Emeralds batter had been up at least five times. Eleven of them had hits, seven had walked and three had reached base via Everett errors.
It took almost two hours to play the first three innings. By then Eugene led 10-7 and every Emeralds batter except the No. 9 hitter had come to the plate three times.
Eugene starter Jason Anderegg gave up five hits, five walks and seven runs in three innings. But he lasted three times as long as Everett starter Ramon Royce (3-3), who couldn’t get an out in the second. Royce faced just 12 batters and gave up five hits, three walks and seven runs.
Royce had trouble finding the strike zone early and when he did Eugene batters more often than not managed to spray hits around the outfield.
The first three Eugene batters reached base on two singles and a walk. An out later, Royce walked in a run and Eugene’s Nick Trzesniak cleared the bases with a double to center.
Royce’s troubles continued in the second inning. Santos Encarnacion led off with a double, moved to second on an infield single by Marcus Nettles and scored on a wild pitch. Then Royce walked Jason Bartlett and was replaced by Juan Done.
Jake Gautreau greeted Done with an RBI single to right. An out later, Jon Benick singled in two more runs.
Emmanuel Santana hit his second two-run home run in as many games in the bottom half of the inning.
Even with the beginnings of a comeback underway, however, the AquaSox couldn’t contain the Emeralds in the third. John DiBetta reached on an error and was running on ball four to Matt Hellman. But catcher Eddie Olszta threw to second anyway. Actually, he almost threw into center field as the ball was off the glove of a diving shortstop for an error allowing DiBetta to take third. Encarnacion followed with an RBI single.
Santana had another two-run hit for Everett in the bottom of the third, a single with the bases loaded. Eduardo Figueroa followed with an RBI single to center.
A walk and two strikeouts later, Jason Rainey rifled a two-run single to right.
After an uneventful fourth inning, Eugene scored three unearned runs as the result of another Villilo error, his 15th of the season, and a dropped fly ball by second baseman Blake Woods.
Everett got one run back in the bottom half of the inning when John Williamson lined a one-out double into the right-field corner and scored on a single by Woods.
