EUGENE, Ore – Trevor Heid got the hard part of hitting for the cycle out of the way early.
The Everett center fielder had a home run, triple, and double after only four innings and needed just a single to complete the cycle. Heid knew where he stood and so did the rest of the dugout.
“Unfortunately my teammates reminded me of it,” Heid said. “I had two opportunities, I can’t complain.”
Heid failed to reach that milestone in his final two at-bats, but already had done more than enough to lift the AquaSox to a 9-1 win over Eugene in front of 3,345 in Northwest League baseball Thursday night at Civic Stadium.
Heid homered in the first inning, doubled and scored in the third, and added a run-scoring triple and a run in the fourth as Everett took a 7-0 lead. The only drama left on the night surrounded Heid’s pursuit of the cycle, but he grounded into a double play in the sixth and flew out in the eight inning.
“It would have been cool, but also I was not going to settle for a single,”
he said. “I’d rather have a double or a triple. I’ve never hit for the cycle.”
Heid got the AquaSox going immediately as he hit the third pitch of the game over the left-field wall. It was the fourth home run of the season for Everett’s lead-off batter.
“It was a fastball inside and wanted to get wood on the bat,” he said. “I happened to get it.”
Heid led off the third inning with a double to left field and advanced to third on an error. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Reed Eastley to give the AquaSox a 2-0 lead.
Everett added two more runs in the inning when J.B. Tucker and Alex Gary hit back-to-back singles followed by a triple from Mike Saunders to make it 4-0.
Everett made it 7-0 with three runs in the third.
Brian Schweiger was hit by a pitch to open the inning and one out later, Heid drilled a triple to center field that scored Schweiger. Luis Valbuena doubled home Heid and he later scored on a ground out by Tucker.
Heid was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs to raise his average to .330. He would rank sixth in the league in batting average, but does not have enough at-bats to qualify among the leaders because he is part of a crowded outfield platoon for the AquaSox.
“We’ve got a lot good outfielders, so when you get a chance to play you have to do the best you can,” he said. “We’ve got six outfielders and they all get a chance to play.”
The AquaSox (28-22) have now won nine of their last 12 games to move within five games of Vancouver in the West Division.
Eugene (24-26) wasted another opportunity to get to .500 for the first time since July 10. The Ems have been one game below .500 eight times since then, but are now 0-8 in those games.
Eugene starter Ben Krosschell allowed seven earned runs and nine hits in four innings to fall to 1-7.
The Ems threatened Everett starter Joe Woerman in each of his three innings, but he did not allow a run. Eugene loaded the bases in the second inning and had runners at first and third in the third, but could not get a run home.
That trend continued into the fourth inning when the Ems greeted reliever Lance Beus with back-to-back singles before he struck out the next three hitters.
The Ems finally broke through with a run off Beus in the bottom of the fifth.
Nick Hundley reached base on a fielder’s choice before Seth Johnston and Will Venable hit back-to-back two-out singles to score Hundley. Venable had three hits to lead the Emeralds.
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