AquaSox lose battle of the long ball 7-5

Published 11:00 pm Monday, July 4, 2016

EVERETT — Don’t let the cool Fourth of July weather fool you — the ball was flying out of Everett Memorial Stadium Monday night.

Everett’s Kyle Lewis got the barrage started as the Seattle Mariners’ first-round draft pick launched his first professional home run in the top of the first inning. But it was Eugene catcher Marcus Mastrobuoni who one-upped Lewis with two long balls as the Emeralds defeated the AquaSox 7-5 before 4,152 fans in the first of a five-game series.

Mastrobuoni entered the game hitting .174 with no homers and no RBI. He finished with a grand slam and a solo home run en route to five RBI for the Northwest League South Division-leading Emeralds (13-5) .

His grand slam to left field in the sixth gave Eugene its first lead at 5-4, and his solo shot to the same spot in the eighth pushed the advantage to 7-5.

The Frogs (10-8) had three long balls of their own as solo shots from Lewis, Eric Filia and Nick Zammarelli helped Everett to a 4-0 advantage through five innings.

Then the Emeralds went to work.

Two walks, an error and a single forced in one run, and then Mastrobuoni’s grand slam gave Eugene the 5-4 lead and chased Everett reliever Joselito Cano.

Filia led off the bottom of the frame with a double, was balked to third and then scored on a wild pitch to tie the contest at 5-5.

Eugene regained the lead in the top of the seventh. Robert Garcia worked a leadoff walk, and took advantage of two errors to score on Taylor Davis’s ground ball to regain the lead, and Mastrobuoni’s second homer gave Eugene a two-run lead.

Lewis’s HR in the top of the first inning was a solo shot to right-center field on a 1-2 offering from Eugene starter Pedro Silverio. Filia led off the second with a solo home run, and Zammarelli’s was also a solo shot that came in the fifth.

The AquaSox and Emeralds meet tonight at 7:05 p.m.. Ljay Newsome (2-0, 2.39 ERA) will go for Everett against Eugene’s Dylan Cease (0-0, 3.00 ERA).