Vancouver Canadians Chavez Young

Chavez Young celebrated twice with his teammates Saturday night by scoring twice, including first Northwest League home run.

C's RecapThe Vancouver Canadians have taken a big step towards winning their third series of the season against the defending Northwest League champions. They overcame some early adversity as they held off the Eugene Emeralds 7-5 in Game 1 of the Northwest League finals at P.K. Park Saturday night.

After a scoreless first inning, the C’s scored the first run of the championship series in the top of the second when Brock Lundquist singled home a Kacy Clemens base hit off Keegan Thompson. The Em’s fought back with a run of their own in the second when Will Remillard singled and eventually scored on a Gustavo Polanco RBI groundout.

Chavez Young—who began the regular season with the C’s in their five-game opening set in Eugene before being sent down to Bluefield—restored the C’s one-run lead with a home run to right field in the top of the third. The ball avoided the reach of Emeralds right fielder Brandon Hughes who went over the short fence to try to catch it but landed awkwardly and injured himself, leading to his exit from the game.

The Emeralds countered with three runs in the bottom of the third off Juan Nunez. Chris Singleton made the Emeralds 3-for-3 in getting their leadoff hitter aboard by drawing a walk. Another free pass to Jared Young and a hit by pitch that grazed Austin Filiere loaded the bases with one out. Nunez then induced a foul pop-up on the first base from Michael Cruz. Just when it appeared Riley Adams was going to make the catch in foul territory for a big second out, he gave up pursuit of the ball. It appeared he may have thought Clemens was calling him off to make the catch from first but the ball landed between them to give Cruz an extra life at the plate. Cruz took full advantage on the next pitch as lined a base hit up the middle to score Singleton and Young to provide the Em’s with their first lead of the series.

That chased Nunez from the game and led to Graham Spraker coming in out of the bullpen. Spraker got the two batters he faced but one of them was a sacrifice fly from Remillard that scored Filiere to increase the Eugene lead to two runs.

Vancouver Canadians Kacy Clemens

Kacy Clemens had two hits, including one that gave the C’s the lead for good in the fifth.

The score remained 4-2 heading into the fifth when the C’s managed to get something cooking against Enrique De Los Rios. Deiferson Barreto and Chavez Young both hit line-drive singles before advancing to third on a balk. An RBI groundout to second by Reggie Pruitt brought in Barreto to cut the Emeralds lead to one. The C’s continued to hit the ball solidly against De Los Rios when Norberto Obeso drilled one up the middle to score Young and tie the game at 4-4. Logan Warmoth then followed by taking one to the middle of the field to send Obeso all the way to third. With runners on the corners, Clemens gave the C’s the lead again when he reached on an infield single to short to bring in Obeso. A throwing error by Jhonny Bethencourt on the same play allowed Warmoth to come around to score to increase the C’s lead by two. Clemens was pretty pumped up at the result as his celebration was reminiscent of this one during an earlier game against Eugene at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Vancouver Canadians Logan Warmoth

Logan Warmoth had two hits and scored what proved to be the winning run.

Brody Rodning was given the start of the fifth inning in relief of Spraker, who delivered 1-2/3 perfect innings of relief. The Emeralds would get their fourth leadoff hitter on base again when Zach Davis worked the count to ball four. Davis then managed to scamper all the way around to third when Rodning threw a wild pitch. Adams’ rough night continued when he was charged with a passed ball that allowed Davis to score and draw the Emeralds to within a run. Rodning would walk Jared Young to put the potential tying run on base. With Rodning unable to get the two hitters he faced, Brayden Bouchey entered the game and retired the first two men he faced before Adams threw out Young trying to steal second to get out of the inning.

Vancouver Canadians Brayden Bouchey

White Rock, BC’s Brayden Bouchey gave his hometown team three perfect innings of relief in the NWL Final series opener.

Vancouver would tack on an insurance run in the seventh when Clemens reached second base on a throwing error by Emeralds reliever Elvis Diaz and he would score on a bloop base hit to right by Adams.

orlando_pascual_sets

Orlando Pascual struck out three over two shutout innings.

Bouchey brought the game into eighth after three innings of perfect relief that included four strikeouts. Orlando Pascual continued the strong relief with two more punchouts in a clean eighth. Remillard would single to start the ninth against Pascual but the Northwest League All-Star got the next three hitters, including a game-ending strikeout of pinch-hitter Miguel Amaya to give the C’s a 1-0 series lead in the Northwest League final.

C-Notes

C's NotesThe C’s banged out 12 hits in this one with Warmoth, Clemens, Lundquist and Young getting two apiece. Obeso, Adams, Barreto and Samad Taylor had the others. Only Pruitt did not get hit but he did have an RBI groundout. Adams was on board twice by drawing a walk and he also stole a base. Vancouver was 4-for-11 with runners on second and/or third and left eight men aboard.

Vancouver pitchers kept Eugene in check by allowing just nine baserunners on three hits, five walks and a hit by pitch while striking out 12 in total. Nunez was charged with four runs over 2-1/3 innings and Rodning was charged with an unearned marker. Spraker was perfect over 1-2/3 innings with two whiffs to earn the victory. Bouchey rung up four over three clean frames to earn the hold while Pascual picked up the save with two innings of one-hit ball.

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C’s Alumni Update

2011 C’s outfielder Kevin Pillar was at it again Saturday.

Here’s a flashback of 2012 C’s lefty Daniel Norris.

C’s Fast Forward

Vancouver Canadians Jose Espada

Jose Espada—the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week for August 28 to September 4—is set to take the ball in Game 2 of the league final.

Vancouver Canadians, Looking AheadJose Espada will be on the hill for Vancouver against Chicago Cubs 2017 first-round pick Brendon Little in Game 2 of this best-of-five series at 5:05 pm.

You can hear the game at CanadiansBaseball.com or you can watch it on MiLB.TV. The game is also being carried on TSN 1410 with the pre-game show set for 4:00 pm with Rob Fai.

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Published by Niall O'Donohoe

My name is Niall O’Donohoe and I am an avid follower of baseball. My blog beginnings began in 2007 with Batter’s Box under the alias #2JBrumfield. The blog formerly known as Niall On Baseball, C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!

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