By John McDonald
Herald Writer
EVERETT — The hex held.
The Vancouver Canadians scored a run in the eighth inning to tie the score and another in the ninth to take a 2-1 victory over the Everett AquaSox Sunday at Everett Memorial Stadium in Everett’s final home game of the 2001 Northwest League season.
The victory was Vancouver’s ninth in as many games against the Sox this season.
"It was a sad finish to our year here," Everett manager Terry Pollreisz said. "To lose a 2-1 game like that, especially when we had a lead going into the late innings."
In what has become an unfortunate habit for the Frogs, they contributed almost as much to Vancouver’s success as did the Canadians. The tying run scored on a two-out wild pitch and the winning run reached base via a walk.
"We battled hard," Pollreisz said. "But we’ve given up more lately than we should have. The runs were not that hard to score."
After Josh Brack drew a one-out walk in the ninth, he took third on a single by Brian Rooke and scored on a sacrifice fly by J.T. Stotts.
Sox reliever Russ Morgan (2-5) was charged with the loss.
The victory moved Vancouver (36-37) to 1 1/2games ahead of the AquaSox in the battle for second place in the West Division. Everett must sweep the upcoming three-game series in Vancouver to finish second.
The AquaSox (34-38) can no longer finish with a winning record.
"The interesting thing is that with all the youth we’ve had here, we’ve had some prospects who have good chances," Pollreisz said. "We didn’t meet our win-loss goals, but the development has been good."
The Sox wasted six scoreless innings by starting pitcher Gus Martinez.
Nevertheless, Martinez solidified his position as the Northwest League strikeout leader. He increased his season total to 100 in 84 1/3innings with nine Sunday. Going into Sunday’s game he led Salem-Keizer’s Jesse Foppert by three.
Martinez became just the third pitcher in team history to strike out 100 batters in a season. He tied Doug Messer (1988) for second place on the franchise’s all-time strikeout list. The all-time leader is Todd Moriarty (1984) with 116.
Morgan did a nifty job of getting out of a jam in the seventh. After the first two Vancouver batters reached base on a walk and infield hit against reliever Erick Swanson, Morgan retired three straight hitters, two on strikeouts, stranding two runners in scoring position.
But he allowed the tying run to score in the eighth. Dan Johnson and Jason Basil had back-to-back one out singles. Johnson reached third on Basil’s hit, but the Vancouver catcher was thrown out at second trying for a double. Johnson then scored on Morgan’s wild pitch.
The AquaSox had a runner thrown out at home in the sixth. A leadoff single by Jason Rainey and a one-out walk by Emmanuel Santana put runners at first and second for John Williamson, who singled to center. But Basil managed to hang onto the throw from the outfield in a terrific collision at the plate.
The AquaSox scored first for the first time in the current three-game series, converting a leadoff walk into a run in the first. Jose Lopez advanced to second on a one-out single by Orlando Hernandez and scored on a two-out single by Williamson.
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