By John McDonald
Herald Writer
EVERETT – It took the Vancouver Canadians just four hits to bury the Everett AquaSox under a 10-run avalanche.
Of course, three of them were homers.
Thanks mainly to a 12-hit barrage, Vancouver beat the AquaSox 11-2 Friday at Everett Memorial Stadium for its seventh win in as many meetings between the two clubs.
“They hit some balls that got small in a hurry,” said Everett manager Terry Pollreisz.
“They’ve got some big guys and they swing the bat hard and they made contact.”
The Canadians (34-37) pulled to within a half-game of Everett (34-36) for second place in the West Division of the Northwest League. The AquaSox must win four the remaining five games to finish with a winning record.
“Finishing .500 is big,” Pollreisz said. “It’s an important thing for us. We wanted to win the thing (division championship), but since we can’t, we want to finish .500.”
Vancouver starting pitcher Brett Price (7-2) stymied any comebacks the AquaSox might have mounted with six shutout innings.
Price pitched out of a first-and-third, two-out predicament in the sixth, retiring Orlando Hernandez on a popup.
Everett squandered its lone early scoring opportunity against Price in the second. Cleanup hitter Greg Dobbs led off with a triple, but went on contact on Hernandez’s ensuing grounder to third and was caught in a rundown and tagged out.
Dobbs’ triple and his sixth-inning single were two of just three hits Price allowed.
The AquaSox did mount a two-run rally against Vancouver reliever Chris Mabeus in the eighth. Blake Woods drew a leadoff walk, moved to third on a double by Dobbs and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hernandez. Emmanuel Santana followed with an RBI single to drive in Dobbs.
Vancouver broke a scoreless tie in the third. Brian Rooke led off with a double, took third on a single by J.T. Stotts and scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Christian Reyes.
After Reyes stole second, Dan Johnson walked and Jason Basil belted a home run to left.
The Canadians got another three-run home run in the fifth. Stotts led off with a single and Reyes walked, chasing AquaSox starting pitcher Ryan Ketchner (3-3). Johnson greeted reliever Dan Head with a blast over the scoreboard.
Joe Cirone contributed to the Canadians’ offense with a two-run double in the seventh.
And Jorge Soto blasted a two-run home run in the ninth.
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