YAKIMA — The dim twilight hours and bright stadium lights weren’t kind to Everett AquaSox center fielder Dwight Britton during a 10-7 Northwest League loss Friday night to the Yakima Bears at Yakima County Stadium.
Britton lost track of two run-scoring fly balls and had a two-run triple driven over his head as Yakima scored nine unanswered runs to climb out of a 7-1 deficit for the win in front of 2,201 fans.
After Roberto Ortiz hit a two-run double in the fifth for Yakima, Britton misjudged a fly ball from Yakima right fielder Henry Zabala that allowed a run to score, making the score 7-4 in the sixth.
Later in the inning, Justin Hilt lifted a high fly ball to center that Britton again couldn’t track. Hilt ended up standing at second base after driving in two more runs.
The Bears (13-15 overall) struck again in the seventh following a game-tying RBI single by Raywilly Gomez. Zabala connected on a pitch from Everett reliever Austin Hudson and hit a two-run triple over Britton’s head in center field.
Zabala finished 2-for-4 with a double, triple and four RBI and Roberto Ortiz was 2-for-3 with three RBI.
Early on, things appeared to be on the right track for the Frogs (19-9).
Following a Steven Baron lead-off infield single in the fourth inning, Britton drew a walk and both runners advanced on a wild pitch to Everett shortstop Fred Bello. Bello then lifted a 2-1 pitch deep to right-center field for a sacrifice fly igniting Everett’s big inning.
After Ryan Royster was hit by a pitch, Kevin Rivers drove a two-out, RBI single up the middle and Mickey Wiswall followed with a two-run single as the AquaSox grabbed three two-out RBI in the inning.
Yakima starter Enrique Burgos, who entered the game with a Northwest League-leading 19 walks in 221/3 innings, finished with a forgettable performance, but benefited from a no-decision. The 19-year-old right-hander gave up six runs on seven hits and walked two batters in four innings.
Everett first baseman Evan Sharpley hit his third home run of the season leading off the fifth inning. The solo shot by the former University of Notre Dame quarterback gave the AquaSox a 7-1 lead.
Rivers finished 2-for-4 with his team-leading 20th RBI and Wiswall batted 2-for-5 with two RBI.
Baron batted 3-for-5.
Everett starter Eric Thomas pitched into the sixth inning, but couldn’t retire the first two batters in the sixth as he surpassed the 90-pitch mark.
Thomas gave up five runs on five hits and struck out three batters in getting a no-decision.
Reliever Jason Markovitz (1-2) yielded four runs in 12/3 innings to take the loss.
The teams wrap up the five-game series with a 7:05 p.m. rubber match tonight at Yakima County Stadium before the AquaSox return home Sunday to face Eugene at 4:05 p.m.
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