AquaSox stay hot with third straight win against Eugene

Published 12:15 am Friday, June 5, 2026

EVERETT — Jonny Farmelo did not hear what a fan shouted from the stands as he walked up to the plate in the bottom of the second against the Eugene Emeralds on Thursday, but everyone else in Everett Memorial Stadium could.

“Hit it dead-center, 15,” the fan shouted, referring to Farmelo’s jersey number.

Ask and you shall receive.

On the first pitch of the at-bat, the Everett AquaSox outfielder crushed the ball 408 feet over the center field wall for a two-run homer to increase Everett’s lead to 3-0, continuing the 21-year-old’s hot start to the month of June.

“Not a bad idea,” Farmelo said when told what the fan shouted. “Just saw something kind of down, a slider. It just kind of backed up and spun, and so I just went at it and was able to stay through it, so good swing.”

Farmelo’s homer was just the beginning of an offensive onslaught, as the AquaSox scored runs in all but two innings en route to a 12-2 win.

The AquaSox narrowly edged Eugene in hits (14-13), but widespread defensive contributions — which included two runners thrown out at the plate and a pair of highlight-reel catches in the outfield — allowed Everett to hold the Emeralds to just two runs.

“We had a couple more extra-base hits,” AquaSox manager Ryan Scott said. “We took advantage of some times when we could steal some bases and get to second base, and then the singles were able to score guys. And (Eugene) hit a lot of singles and then didn’t really string them together, and sometimes that’s just baseball.”

Starter Chase Centala pitched five shutout innings, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out seven for the third time in his past five outings.

For the offense, Farmelo reached base in five of six plate appearances, going 3-for-4 with two walks, two runs scored and three RBI. He raised his season batting average 10 points to .259, and his lone out was a pop up in foul territory that dropped right inside the fence. Outfielder Curtis Washington Jr. went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI.

After missing the back half of 2024 with an ACL tear and missing a significant chunk of the 2025 season with a stress reaction in his rib, Farmelo had to recover mentally as much as he did physically. He returned in time to help Everett win the 2025 Northwest League Championship against Eugene in September, going 4-for-14 (.286) with four RBI, three walks and a 1.012 OPS in four games, and he spent the offseason getting as many reps as he could after competing in the Arizona Fall League with the Peoria Javelinas, where he slashed .234/.406/.442.

“The offseason was really just about having an offseason,” Farmelo said. “I haven’t had that in a year, so that was great. Just seeing a bunch of different shapes, a bunch of different fastball-types, and kind of trying to make more contact on the fastball mainly, and just put the ball in play. A little bit of swing and miss last year, so did that, and yeah it’s been good.”

The 29th overall pick from 2023 had a slow start to 2026, batting .200 in April with a 0.731 OPS, but he has gradually improved his offensive production. Farmelo slashed .273/.395/.384 in May and is off to red-hot start at the top of Everett’s lineup in June. It’s a small sample size, but through three games, he hit 6-for-9 (.667) with six runs scored, 13 total bases, three RBI, four walks, one strikeout, plus a staggering .786 OBP and 1.444 slugging percentage (2.230 OPS).

He is also honing his defense in center field. He highlighted Thursday with a sliding catch in the top of the eighth.

“I’ve had a few slow starts in my career, so something that happens,” Farmelo said. “And also just working on kind of direction and trying to stay through the backside of the field and still be on time, so a little bit of both, little bit of everything.”

Centala went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, and the first four AquaSox batters of the game reached base to take a 1-0 lead. Farmelo blooped a leadoff double to left, but was caught stealing third right before catcher Luke Stevenson worked a walk on a full count. Shortstop Felnin Celesten moved Stevenson to second on an infield single before designated hitter Matthew Ellis roped an RBI double off the center field wall to score Stevenson.

Outfielder Carlos Jimenez worked a two-out walk to load the bases, but infielder Luis Suisbel lined out to center field to end the inning.

Centala retired his fifth straight batter to open the game, but Emeralds outfielder Carlos Gutierrez broke up the no-hitter with a double to left that barely eluded Washington Jr.’s glove at the wall. However, Celesten ended the frame by recovering a hard grounder from first baseman Jakob Christian and completing the 6-2 fielder’s choice to get Gutierrez at home plate.

“He’s developing big-time,” Scott said of Celesten. “That’s a big play, and even if there is no play at home right there, if the third base coach holds up the runner at third, it’s a phenomenal play for him just to keep that ball in the infield and not give up on the play.”

Everett stranded loaded bases yet again in the bottom of the second after strikeouts from first baseman Brandon Eike and Jimenez, but Farmelo’s home run pushed the lead to 3-0.

Centala notched two more strikeouts in the top of the third, and the AquaSox extended the lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the frame. Infielder Carter Dorighi and Farmelo worked back-to-back walks, and Stevenson brought both home with a single to right field. Dorighi scored on the initial hit, and Stevenson put himself in a pickle between first and second to allow Farmelo to score as well.

Centala matched his career-high with his seventh strikeout to start off the fifth, getting Christian to whiff on a low 1-2 pitch, then retired the side on a fly out and groundout to end his night. Across 10 1/3 innings in his past two starts, the 24-year-old righty has struck out nine and allowed eight hits, one walk and one earned run.

“I think just being able to compete in the zone has really been helping me,” Centala said. “I mean, even today, I wasn’t in the zone early, but being able to kind of figure it out as I go and just stay in it through every single pitch, just not letting the focus slip, has really been helping me.”

Centala is in his first season with the Mariners organization after pitching 72 innings across three different levels in the Miami Marlins organization, spending the majority with High-A Beloit. The Tampa native posted a 3.40 ERA in 39 2/3 innings in Beloit, striking out 29 and walking 11. Centala made it up to Double-A Pensacola in September, where he pitched three innings across two appearances, but the Marlins released him on March 22.

Just five days later, Centala signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners, and while he currently has a 4.38 ERA with opponents hitting .302 against him, he’s more focused on the process. He credits Miami for helping him develop more pitches, and now he’s relying on Seattle’s plan to master them.

“If you’re constantly in the zone and constantly forcing batters to swing the bat, good things are going to happen,” Centala said. “Limiting walks and the addition of the changeup has really been huge for me.”

Dorighi and Farmelo hit back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth to push the lead to 7-0, and Eugene shortstop Gavin Kilen broke up the shutout with a solo home run off Calvin Schapira in the top of the sixth. Schapira allowed the next three batters to load the bases, and Lucas Kelly took over to get the final out and strand the runners, but he had Jimenez to thank for it. The 23-year-old sprinted into a diving catch to end the frame.

“Part of it is Calvin’s kind of running out of pitches for the inning, so didn’t want that next at-bat to get a little too deep,” Scott said about the pitching change. “We know Calvin can go out there and get that out also, but part of the thing for Lucas and his development is if he’s going to be a big league reliever, you got to come in in those situations, be able to get an out. He did right there, and so it was awesome to see all-around.”

Jimenez showed up with his bat in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single to make it 8-1 before Washington Jr. crushed a three-run shot to left to make it 11-1. Everett loaded the bases in the seventh, and Jimenez got hit by a pitch to bring in another run.

Kelly and Ben Hernandez each allowed just one hit and struck out two Emeralds in relief, and while Christian hit a solo shot to cut it to 12-2 in the top of the ninth, Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman stranded loaded bases to end the game.