Hernandez lifts AquaSox over Volcanoes
Published 1:30 am Friday, July 13, 2018
EVERETT — The Everett AquaSox have played their share of long games this season.
Friday night was a change of pace as the AquaSox knocked off the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 3-1 in a little over two hours before 2,578 fans at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Carlos Hernandez (2-3) recovered from a tough first inning to fan seven in six strong innings. He allowed two hits and an earned run. Penn Murfee used a double play to work out of trouble in the seventh to throw two scoreless innings, and Joey Gerber pitched around a one-out single in the ninth for his fifth save of the season as Everett evened its record at 14-14.
The Volcanoes took advantage of a double and two hit batters to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Kyle McPherson scored on an RBI groundout by David Villar.
Everett drew even in the bottom of the third with three straight singles. Charlie McConnell’s single plated Nick Rodriguez to make it 1-1, but Everett left the bases loaded to end the inning.
The AquaSox took the lead in the fourth when Connor Kopach drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Rodriguez.
Ryan Garcia’s solo home run with one out in the sixth provided the game’s final run.
McConnell was the only AquaSox player with more than one hit.
The AquaSox fanned 10 times and stranded six runners on base and were 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
The teams return at 7:05 p.m. Saturday for Game 4 of the five-game series.
