Frogs bust out the big sticks in 9-3 win

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, June 23, 2007

EVERETT – The Everett AquaSox lineup is beginning to look formidable.

Using something close to its best lineup for the first time this season, Everett put a hurt on the ball in defeating the Yakima Bears 9-3 Saturday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.

The AquaSox pounded out 13 hits, seven of which went for extra bases. That included the team’s first home run of the season by Gregory Halman.

“We’ve got a lot of power hitters and it was only the first five games,” said Halman, who lifted a solo shot out to center in the fourth inning to break Everett’s homer drought. “I know there’s a lot of home runs that are going to be hit. But we’re not focused on hitting home runs, they’ll come day-by-day. The best part is winning.”

The addition of prized hitting prospect Matt Mangini, along with the return to health of Kris Sanchez, allowed Everett to go left-right throughout the lineup with dangerous hitters throughout – the potential makings of an AquaSox version of Murder’s Row.

“We were able to finally get everybody in there,” Everett manager Mike Tosar said. “We got Mangini in, (Joe) Dunigan, Sanchez, those big lefties in the lineup. In between those guys we have Halman and (Kalian) Sams, (Jermaine) Brock getting on base with his speed. We had all the pistons rolling today.”

Sanchez finished 3-for-4 with two RBI. Halman, Dunigan, Brock and Edilio Colina each added two hits and Jeff Dunbar drove in three runs as the Sox got production throughout the lineup. Everett (3-2) thus takes a winning record into its first road trip of the season, heading to Tri-City today.

“Everybody’s starting to feel more comfortable,” Halman said. “Everybody’s starting to become friends and starting to hang out with each other and we’re having fun. We’re through that getting-to-know-each-other period and now we’re really starting to be a team.”

Shane Byrne went 3-for-4 to pace Yakima (2-3).

Somewhat lost in the offensive shuffle was an outstanding performance by starting pitcher Nolan Gallagher. In his professional debut, the right-hander from Stanford tossed four scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out three. However, on a 70-pitch limit, he was only able to go four innings and was thus ineligible for the win.

“It was good to see Gallagher go out there for the first time and really do well,” Tosar said. “His breaking ball was really sharp, he was throwing it for strikes and he was aggressive with his fastball. It was unfortunate he could only go four and couldn’t get the win, but it’s about their careers, not about trying to stretch them out their first time out.”

Shawn Kelley was credited with the win for pitching a perfect inning of relief.

Yakima starting pitcher Ian Harrington, a Seattle native making his first professional start, had a rough outing. He lasted just 21/3 innings in taking the loss, giving up five runs on six hits, a walk and two hit batters.

In an unusual scene, both teams were penalized when batters stepped out of the box illegally. The league is more stringently applying the rule this season, where a strike is called when a batter steps out and delays the game, and both times it happened Saturday it resulted in a strikeout. However it was more costly for Yakima as, with the score 7-3 in the top of the eighth, Miguel Rodriguez was called out with the bases loaded, ending the inning.

Everett broke out the bats in the second to take a 4-0 lead. Dunigan’s sharp single to center drove home the first run. Dunbar followed by pulling a two-run double past third base. Then Brock lined an RBI double into the right-field corner, plating the fourth run, although he was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.

Everett added another run in the third. The Sox loaded the bases with one out on an error, infield single and hit batter. Dunbar then grounded into a fielder’s choice, a run scoring to make it 5-0. The Sox finally got their first home run of the season – in the team’s fifth game – in the fourth when Halman launched a high homer to center to make it 6-0.

Everett scored once again in the fifth. Colina grounded a double down the third-base line, then scored on Dunigan’s single just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Joe Ayers, increasing the lead to 7-0.

Yakima finally got its offense started in the seventh against reliever Marquis Pettis when Miguel Rodriguez and JoJo Batten smacked back-to-back doubles. Rodriguez’s double drove in one run and Batten’s scored two, cutting Everett’s advantage to 7-3.