C’s Recap – A Sad Result As Assad Blanks C’s To Tie NWL Final At 1-1 – C's Plus Baseball

Reggie Pruitt drove in both runs for Vancouver Sunday afternoon.

The Vancouver Canadians had a chance to bring home a 2-0 series lead back home but a bad first inning and a lack of hitting resulted in a 4-2 loss to the Eugene Emeralds in Game 2 of the Northwest League final at P.K. Park Sunday afternoon. That means the championship final is going to be at least four games and with the series now a best-of-five instead of a best-of-three, it may very well go the limit.

We are under way in Eugene!

📸 @JaredRavich pic.twitter.com/Rr8SwJQYXW

— Vancouver Canadians (@vancanadians) September 11, 2017

The C’s tried to get to Brendon Little in the first when Norberto Obeso and Kacy Clemens drew one-and-two-out walks respectively but the Chicago Cubs first-round pick whiffed a pair of batters, getting Riley Adams swinging to end the threat.

Eugene would get on the board when Austin Filiere launched a two-run home run to left to score a Jared Young single. Jhonny Bethencourt extended the rally with a two-out single and stole second base before racing home on a Gustavo Polanco base hit to make it 3-0 Eugene.

Brock Lundquist had the only multi-hit game for Vancouver in Game 2.

The C’s would chop the Em’s lead to one in the second when a pair of walks by Brock Lundquist and Deiferson Barreto were cashed in by a two-run triple from Reggie Pruitt.

Reggie Pruitt triple scores two for @vancanadians. 3-2 @EugeneEmeralds Bottom 2nd #NWLship pic.twitter.com/btzFU8PzHD

— Jared Ravich (@JaredRavich) September 11, 2017

Reggie Pruitt hits a two-run triple for @vancanadians, ⬆️2⃣, in G2 of Northwest League Championship Series. https://t.co/4xIHdlmu1c pic.twitter.com/8oANNiRVnN

— MiLB.com (@MiLB) September 11, 2017

Vancouver looked to tie the game in the fourth against reliever Javier Assad by loading the bases with one out when Lundquist singled, Samad Taylor reached on an error and Chavez Young walked. However, Barreto bunted into a strikeout despite the ball nearly hitting him for the first out before Pruitt grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Plenty of shadows to deal with as a hitter tonight out at PK Park in Eugene at 6:41pm. Top 5, @vancanadians trail 3-2 pic.twitter.com/2Z40u4YBXZ

— Rob Fai 🇨🇦 (@RobFaiNation) September 11, 2017

The C’s tried again to tie it in the fifth when Obeso drew a leadoff walk but that went for naught. Eugene would score again in their at-bat in the fifth when Zach Davis bunted for a single, stole second base and scored on a Jared Young base knock against Espada, who was later lifted for Marcus Reyes.

After that, it was ‘Assad’ state of affairs for the C’s offence as Assad sat down the last 12 hitters he faced, striking out nine over six frames that included K-ing the side swinging in the eighth.

Lundquist greeted Jake Steffens with a double to center to start the ninth but Steffens needed just four pitches to retire Taylor, pinch-hitter Cam O’Brien and Chavez Young to close the game out for the Emeralds.

@vancanadians fall 4-2 to Eugene on Sunday night. NWL Championship tied at a game a piece in this best-of-five series. pic.twitter.com/sxGGtU5aS7

— Rob Fai 🇨🇦 (@RobFaiNation) September 11, 2017

Rally Skunk can’t help @VanCanadians pull out win in Eugene; series tied 1-1 https://t.co/9DEyyCTzGK

— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) September 11, 2017

Pretty stoked my parents got to come out and watch me play and to… https://t.co/B9zrgPG9cW

— Brock Lundquist (@Brock_Lundquist) September 11, 2017

C-Notes

Dany Jimenez contributed two-thirds of a scoreless inning out of the C’s bullpen.

After 12 hits in Game 1, the C’s had only three in Game 2—two of them by Lundquist. Obeso drew two of the six walks for Vancouver but the C’s went down on strikes 13 times with Logan Warmoth and Riley Adams getting saddled with hat tricks. With runners in scoring position, Vancouver was 1-for-9 and left seven men on base.

Grayson Huffman capped off 3-1/3 scoreless innings from the Vancouver bullpen with two goose eggs.

Espada gave up four runs on six hits in 4-2/3 innings, striking out four and walking one. At least the bullpen was on point as Reyes, Dany Jimenez and Grayson Huffman provided 3-1/3 innings of shutout relief with Jimenez and Huffman each striking out a batter.