EVERETT — The Everett AquaSox put some overtime in Thursday night.
Brandon Fromm’s bases-loaded single through a drawn in infield in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Anthony Phillips for the game-winning run and Everett defeated Vancouver 2-1 in front of 2,365 at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Fromm’s single highlighted a superb pitching performance by AquaSox starter Aaron Brown.
“It felt real good getting the win because Brown did an outstanding job,” Everett manager Jose Moreno said.
Brown was nearly flawless pitching a season-high seven innings, striking out five. He didn’t walk a batter and his only mistake came on a 0-2 pitch that David Thomas hit over the right field wall for a 1-0 Vancouver lead.
The right-hander faced the minimum through six innings and allowed just two hits in those six innings.
“He just made one mistake in the seventh inning. He was aggressive, threw everything for a strike. (Thursday) he showed he had more confidence, even when he had men on bases,” Moreno said of his starter.
After Thomas’ first home run of the season gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead Everett bounced back in their portion of the seventh knotting the score at 1-1.
Everett scored the tying run when Ben Billingsley scored from second on an infield single by Tyson Gillies.
Gillies two-out hit was in the hole between second and short and fielded by Canadian shortstop Dustin Coleman. Coleman’s momentum took him away from a play, the shortstop tumbled before attempting to throw out Billingsley at the plate, but the Everett left fielder slid beneath the catcher’s tag tying the score.
“Billingsley didn’t stop. He just slowed down a bit coming to third but he continued to run hard,” said Moreno, who was the third base coach at the time and the person responsible for waving Billingsley around.
The two pitching staffs threw two more scoreless innings before sending the game into extra frames.
Everett relievers Robbie Dominguez (two innings, three strikeouts) and Phil Hann (5-4) held Vancouver without any runs, setting up Everett’s 10th inning comeback.
Vancouver reliever Brad Hertzler (2-1) walked the first two batters he faced — Phillips and Gillies.
Jose Guzman relieved Hertzler and with Luis Nunez attempting to lay down a bunt, Phillips and Nunez both stole a base on heads-up baserunning.
The third baseman charged in causing both the third baseman and the shortstop to be out of position, allowing both runners to move up.
Guzman intentionally walked Nunez, filling the bases with Sox runners and setting up Fromm’s single past the diving shortstop for the victory.
Everett (30-40) now leads Vancouver (29-41) for third place in the NWL West Division.
OF NOTE: Everett catcher Travis Howell was the lone Everett AquaSox named to the Northwest League All-Star team. The catcher entered Thursday’s game batting .297 with two home runs and 23 RBI.
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