Frogs defeat Boise in marathon

Published 12:34 am Friday, July 20, 2007

EVERETT – The Everett AquaSox rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 13th inning to defeat the Boise Hawks 5-4 Thursday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.

With one out, Joe Dunigan’s hard grounder bounced off first baseman Marc Sawyer’s chest and into the outfield, scoring Kris Sanchez from second base with the winning run.

Jeff Dunbar had tied it for Everett, hitting a sacrifice fly to left to bring Gregory Halman home from third.

Boise put itself in position to win by scoring in the top of the 13th, Sawyer’s suicide squeeze bunt scoring Josh Donaldson to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead.

Craig Hurba went 3-for-3 with a homer and two RBI to lead Everett (13-17), which snapped a four-game losing streak. Ryan Moorer earned the win despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th.

Kyler Burke homered for Boise (14-16), which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Oscar Bern and took the loss.

Everett manager Mike Tosar was ejected from the game in the top of the ninth for arguing after Boise’s Mario Mercedes was awarded first base because of catcher’s interference.

Everett second baseman Edilio Colina left the game after three innings. Colina appeared to injure his arm diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt. He remained in the game, but was replaced when the Sox took the field in the fourth.

Nolan Gallager had another successful start for Everett, albeit a short one. The right-hander, who leads the league with an ERA under one, pitched four more scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks while striking out three. Gallagher is unscored upon in his last 12 innings.

Everett grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second when Hurba, back after sitting out the previous two days with a shoulder injury, lined a ball the opposite way just over the fence in right-center, his first homer of the season giving the Sox a 1-0 lead.

Hurba came through again in the third to double Everett’s lead. With the bases loaded Hurba lined a ball off shortstop Dylan Johnston’s glove, scoring Colina and making it 2-0.

Everett scored again in the sixth, Benitez bouncing a single up the middle to score Kalian Sams from second, making it 3-0.

The Sox appeared to have the game under control, but all of Everett’s efforts through six innings were erased in a hurry in the seventh. It began innocently enough when Thomas’s pop-up fell between second baseman Roberto Mena and right fielder Joe Dunigan for a double. Donaldson followed with an RBI double off the right-center wall. Burke then crushed a two-run homer to center, and in the span of seven pitches the score was tied 3-3.

Everett had a golden opportunity to go ahead in the bottom of the eighth. With runners at second and third and one out, Roberto Mena flew out to shallow center. Welington Dotel took off from third, but Jonathan Wyatt’s throw home was on the money, nailing Dotel to keep the score tied.