EVERETT — A funny thing happened at Everett Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night.
A professional baseball team played a game against an amateur one, and it was a mismatch. However, the team that dominated wasn’t the one people would have expected.
In a reversal of conventional roles, it was the Everett Merchants who smacked the Everett AquaSox around, cruising to a 10-5 victory in the seventh annual Everett Cup.
A crowd of 855 witnessed the Merchants, a team made up primarily of locally based community college players, out-hit and out-pitched the AquaSox, the Northwest League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
The Sox won five of the previous six Everett Cups, usually in commanding fashion with their pro pedigree shining through. But the tables turned in a dramatic way Wednesday.
“This was huge for us,” Merchants coach Harold Pyatte said. “This is one of the pinnacles of our entire season. When we can come in here in front of the hometown crowd and win the game, it sets the confidence for the entire team.”
Usually there’s a visible difference in the abilities of the two teams, with the Sox displaying superior talent, polish and depth. But this year the Merchants appeared every bit the Sox’s equal, even in depth. Nine different Merchants had base hits — including three doubles and a triple — and five of the Merchants’ six pitchers held the Sox in check.
“We’ve got a really good group of young men here this year,” Pyatte said. “We just happen to have a very good hitting team. I think the hitting was the difference tonight.”
Tyler Cox led the way offensively for the Merchants, coming off the bench to go 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
Dwight Britton and Evan Sharpley hit solo home runs for the Sox, who used the exhibition game as preparation for Friday’s season opener at Salem-Keizer. The Sox better hope they worked some of the kinks out Wednesday as some aspects of their game, particularly the pitching, were ugly.
Edlando Seco took the loss. The left-hander, who’s slotted into the No. 5 position in the rotation but came on in relief Wednesday, had all kinds of control issues. In his three innings, he walked five — including the leadoff batter twice in his three innings — and uncorked two run-scoring wild pitches. He ended up allowing six runs, four of those being earned.
But Seco was hardly the only Sox pitcher to struggle with his command. Five Sox pitchers combined to walk 11 batters and hit another two.
“This game is about adjustments, and today showed we have to make a lot of adjustments,” Sox manager Jose Moreno said. “We didn’t throw strikes with the first pitch, we were always behind in the count. We need to be aggressive and try to get ahead of the hitters.
“The good thing is this is our preseason game,” Moreno added. “We have some new guys and we’re getting to know them. (Today) we’ll talk about things and hopefully be ready for opening day.”
Those control problems fed into the Sox’s inability to get the leadoff batter out. The Merchants put the first batter of the inning on base eight times, forcing constant pressure on the Sox. It’s therefore no surprise the Merchants scored in six different innings.
“That was huge because it put them on the defensive,” Pyatte said. “I was able to bunt a couple of times and play small ball. That’s what it’s all about for us. We like to play small ball and set the table for some of our big guys.”
After the Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, it was almost all Merchants. The Merchants tied it in the second on Braden Degamo’s RBI single, took a 3-1 lead in the third on a pair of run-scoring wild pitches, then took control with three more in the fourth. With two on and two out Zach Miller lined a pinch-hit single to center, bringing in one run. When Sox catcher Carlton Tanabe tried to make a play at third, he air-mailed the throw down the line, allowing two more to score and make it 6-1.
The Merchants led 8-2 going into the seventh when the Sox mounted a mini-rally. Britton lofted his homer to left center, Kevin Mailloux lined an RBI single to left and the Sox loaded the bases to bring the tying run to the plate. However, Brad Clapp got Kevin Rivers to fly out to left, and the Sox were never again able to threaten the lead.
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