EVERETT — For a while it seemed as though the fates were aligned against the Everett AquaSox on Saturday night. Every inning the Sox put runners on base, and every inning Everett came up empty.
The only ones who seemed unconcerned were the Sox themselves. They maintained faith that as long as they kept putting runners on base, eventually they would find the breakthrough.
That breakthrough arrived in the bottom of the seventh inning when Everett finally snapped a scoreless tie and the Sox opened their final series of the first half with a 2-0 victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Pitchers Edlando Seco, Willy Kesler and Jason Markovitz combined on a four-hit shutout, keeping the Volcanoes at bay until the Sox could muster some offense. That finally happened in the seventh when Hawkins Gebbers singled home Terry Serrano, giving the Sox the only run they needed.
“We’re hitting good, we just didn’t put anything together tonight for a while,” Gebbers said. “I don’t think anybody was too worried about it, though.”
Jimmy Jacquot added late insurance with a solo home run as Everett (25-11) knocked off Salem-Keizer for the eighth time in 10 meetings this season. The final two games of the series complete the Northwest League’s first half. Everett already has clinched the West Division’s first-half title, but the Sox haven’t changed their approach to the games.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” Gebbers said. “We already have one goal accomplished. The next one is to finish out this half and then win the second half — just win every game, really. That’s what we do every day.”
Serrano, Jacquot and Kevin Rivers each finished with two hits for the Sox.
Adam Duvall had two hits to lead Salem-Keizer (17-19).
Everett seemed like it should have had the game well in hand. The Sox outhit the Volcanoes 11-4, putting runners in scoring position in three of the first five innings. But clutch pitching by Taylor Rogers (five scoreless innings), with a little aid from the defense, kept the Sox off the board.
The Sox finally found the right combination in the seventh. Serrano led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. The Volcanoes brought the infield in and Gebbers bounced a single back up the middle to break the deadlock.
“I actually hit that ball pretty hard, I just hit it straight into the ground and it stopped it,” Gebbers said with a laugh. “It’s nice to get that once in a while because I’m not hitting that well right now, but it’ll come around.”
That was all the offense necessary for the Sox pitchers, who turned in a dominating performance.
It began with Seco, who continued his string of strong starts. The left-hander struck out six and allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings. He had a no-hitter going until Devin Harris singled with one out in the fifth. In his past four starts covering 21 innings, Seco has given up just six hits while striking out 26.
It continued with Kesler, who was every bit as good as Seco. Kesler tossed 31/3 innings, at one point striking out five straight. He earned the win, improving to 3-2.
Then Markovitz finished it off, getting the final two outs for his third save. He became the fourth Everett pitcher with at least three saves.
“Seco was aggressive, he established his fastball and had good location,” Everett manager Jose Moreno said. “Kesler and Markovitz then did a real good job. All year the bullpen has done a good job. Everybody has kept the game close and given us the opportunity to win ballgames.”
The Sox threatened to break a scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fourth when Serrano lined a single to center with Evan Sharpley on second. Sharpley was waved home and there was a mighty collision at home plate after center fielder Jose Medina’s throw arrived ahead of the play. Catcher Jeff Arnold held onto the ball, Sharpley was called out and the score remained 0-0.
In fact, the Sox had potential runs on base throughout the first half of the game. Everett stranded eight runners in the first five innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the first and runners on second and third in the fifth.
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