EVERETT – You never forget your first one.
Everett AquaSox pitcher Robert Rohrbaugh earned professional victory No. 1 Monday night. Judging by the way the 6-foot-2 left-hander mastered the strike zone, he has plenty more W’s ahead of him.
Rohrbaugh struck out six hitters and didn’t allow a walk in five scoreless innings Monday night. He gave the AquaSox a great start toward a 7-0 victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in a Northwest League game at Everett Memorial Stadium.
“It feels pretty cool,” Rohrbaugh said of his landmark win.
The Seattle Mariners drafted Rohrbaugh in the 7th round of the 2005 MLB Draft out of Clemson University. He’s only been with Everett for about three weeks, but after evening his record at 1-1, Rohrbaugh can’t wait to get back on the mound.
“I’m going to build on it,” he said, “so hopefully my next start will be even better.”
A crowd of 1,361 watched the AquaSox (11-10 overall) conclude a three-game series against S-K (10-11). Second baseman Luis Valbuena had two hits and drove in two runs for Everett, which is idle today and begins at three-game series at Vancouver on Wednesday.
The Frogs took two-of-three from S-K. After a pair of one-run games to open the series, Monday’s victory came via an outstanding three-headed pitching performance. Jon Lockwood (three scoreless innings, five strikeouts) and Rollie Gibson (a scoreless, hitless top of the ninth) backed Rohrbaugh to give Everett its second shutout victory of the season. The first came on July 4 in a 6-0 triumph over Boise.
Rohrbaugh got into a groove by working his fastball inside and used breaking pitches to keep the S-K hitters guessing.
“He has a good curve ball that catches hitters off guard,” Everett catcher Brian Schweiger said of Rohrbaugh. “It keeps ‘em honest.”
After Rohrbaugh struck out two S-K batters in a scoreless top of the first, Everett took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of inning. Valbuena hit an opposite-field double off Ludwig that zipped down the left-field line and allowed Casey Craig to score from first base. Craig started the inning with a walk.
Everett added two more runs in the second – one on a throwing error and another on Valbuena’s second run-scoring hit of the game.
Valbuena scored in the seventh to give Everett some breathing room. He reached on an S-K error, stole a base and scored Everett’s fourth run when designated hitter Daniel Santin laced a two-out flare to left field.
The Frogs used two hits, two walks and one throwing error to tally three more runs in the eighth, giving Gibson plenty of cushion to work with for the top of the ninth.
Lockwood, a 6-2 right-hander from Toronto, still hasn’t allowed a run this season. In 16 innings he has surrendered just three hits, walked one and struck out 19. He wowed the home crowd when he struck out the side in the seventh.
“Locks’s been doing a great job for us coming out of the bullpen,” Schweiger said. “(He’s) throwing strikes … and just getting hitters out.”
David Hall and Rob Hudson had two hits apiece for Everett.
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