Hancock solid in first outing, AquaSox pound Hops
Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 6, 2021
HILLSBORO, Ore. — Emerson Hancock struck out three in two scoreless inning in his first professional start, and the Everett AquaSox offense exploded with an eight-run sixth inning in a 12-1 win over the Hillsboro Hops on Thursday night.
Hancock, the Seattle Mariners’ top pick in the 2020 MLB draft and the 26th-best prospect in all of baseball according to MLB.com, allowed zero hits and walked one while throwing 31 pitches, 20 for strikes.
Everett trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the sixth inning when the offense woke up.
Joseph Rosa plated Kaden Polcovich on a ground-rule double, followed by a two-run single from Patrick Frick. Julio Rodriguez lined a two-run single to left and Austin Shenton doubled in two more right after that. Polcovich singled to drive in Rodriguez and Shenton scored on a throwing error by Hillsboro pitcher Kai-Wei-Lin to give Everett an 8-1 lead.
The AquaSox tacked on three more runs in the seventh and another in the ninth and finished with 16 hits.
Polcovich and Rosa finished 3-for-4, and Zach DeLoach, Rodriguez, Shenton and Frick had two hits each for Everett (2-1).
Bernie Martinez earned the win after tossing 3.1 innings and allowing only one run in relief of Hancock. Evan Johnson struck out six in 2.2 scoreless innings for the AquaSox.
Blaze Alexander went 1-for-3 with the lone RBI for Hillsboro (1-2).
