The Vancouver Canadians have pulled into a first-place tie with the Everett AquaSox again after the C’s walked off the Frogs 2-1 Sunday afternoon at Ron Tonkin Field.
All the scoring came in the late innings in this one. Everett got the game’s first run in the seventh when Connor Hoover‘s sacrifice fly off C’s reliever Hagen Danner cashed in a David Sheaffer double after he had moved up to third base on a wild pitch.
Vancouver responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the seventh. Frogs reliever Isaiah Campbell handed out a pair of one-out walks to Spencer Horwitz and Ryan Gold. Luis De Los Santos could not sneak a ball by AquaSox second baseman Cody Grosse who was able to get a 4-6 force out of Gold but De Los Santos beat out the relay to first. Sebastian Espino would line a broken-bat single up the middle on the first pitch he saw from Campbell to score Horwitz with the tying run. Eric Rivera tried to knock in the go-ahead run but he lined out to center for the third out.
After wasting a Rafael Lantigua leadoff walk and Tanner Kirwer sacrifice bunt in the eighth, the Canadians won it in the ninth by getting him on, getting him over and getting him in. Horwitz got on with a leadoff double to center to Campbell, Gold got Horwitz over to third on a groundout to second and De Los Santos got Horwitz in with a sac fly to center.
C-Notes
The Canadians were able to survive a dominant pitching performance by Everett starter Juan Then thanks to Paxton Schultz being able to match zeroes with him over six innings.
Schultz surrendered a two-out single by Kaden Polcovich in the first inning but Gold threw him out on a stolen base attempt. A Jack Larsen single started the second and Hoover worked a two-out walk but Schultz managed to strand the two runners.
After a perfect third inning, Polcovich singled to start the fourth off and managed to steal second but Schultz struck out the side swinging by getting Larsen, Joseph Rosa and Sheaffer to chase. A leadoff walk to Hoover in the fifth was the last baserunner for Schultz as he retired the last six men he faced. He struck out eight and picked up a half-dozen outs on the ground.
Danner got the win by pitching three innings of one-run, one-hit and one-walk ball to go along with three strikeouts.
An Espino double to lead off the third was one of just two hits against Then. A two-out single by Horwitz in the fourth was the only other blemish against Then who had 1-2-3 innings in the first, second, fifth and sixth. He struck out six and had seven outs on the fake grass.
Vancouver is a perfect 4-0 on Sunday and 5-0 when wearing the red jerseys. Their home record improves to 12-6 and their overall mark of 15-9 ties them with Everett for top spot in the High-A West League.
The Eugene Emeralds will visit the Canadians at Ron Tonkin Field to begin a six-game series Tuesday. Sean Wymer is the probable start for Vancouver. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. at CanadiansBaseball.com.
C’s Alumni Report
Ryan Sloniger (2019) had two walks and two runs scored but Dunedin was outslugged by Tampa 13-10. Alex Nolan (2019) made his season debut for the D-Jays but is not listed on the linked boxscore for some reason. The Blue Jays re-signed the Burlington, Ontario native after being released late in 2020. Nolan was set to pitch for Équipe Québec (Team Quebec) in the independent Frontier League before the Jays came calling again.
Rowdy Tellez (2014) was 2-for-3 with a home run as Toronto beat Cleveland 4-1 in Game 1 of a doubleheader in Ohio. Jonathan Davis (2014) drew a leadoff walk and scored a go-ahead run in the seventh inning of the second game but a bullpen meltdown prevented the Jays from a sweep in a 6-5 loss.
Tim Locastro (2014) was 1-for-4 with a run batted in as Arizona ended a 13-game losing skid with a 9-2 win over St. Louis.
Chase De Jong (2013) is back in the bigs as he made his Pittsburgh Pirates debut. He allowed just one run on three hits and two walks and struck out five over five innings but received a no-decision in the Pirates 4-3 loss in Colorado. De Jong signed as a minor-league free agent with the Bucs back in January after spending 2020 in Houston.
After scouring the Mexican Baseball League and independent league rosters throughout North America, a number of former Canadians are still plying their baseball trade.
Mexican League
- RHP Felipe Castenada (2019) – Acereros del Norte
- RHP Geno Encina (2015) – Sultanes de Monterrey
- 1B Balbina Fuenmayor (2011-2012) – Tecos De Los Dos Laredos
- RHP William Ouellette (2017) – Tecos De Los Dos Laredos (brother Garrett Ouellette is also on the team as a catcher)
- OF Michael Choice (2010) – Algodoneros Union Laguna
- RHP Roberto Osuna (2012) – Diablos Rojos del Mexico
- RHP Dalton Rodriguez (2016-2018) – Leones de Yucatan
- RHP Carlos Ramirez (2012) – Leones de Yucatan
- 1B Art Charles (2012) – Leones de Yucatan
- IF Jorge Flores (2012) – Leones de Yucatan
- OF Norberto Obeso (2017) – Leones de Yucatan
- OF Jonathan Jones (2011) – Leones de Yucatan
- C Kevin Garcia (2015) – Pericos de Puebla
Atlantic League
- IF/OF David Harris (2013-2014) – Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
- RHP Arik Sikula (2012) – West Virginia Power (Erik Manoah – older brother of 2019 C’s pitcher Alek Manoah is also on the roster)
Frontier League
- LHP Grayson Huffman (2016, 2017, 2019) – Florence Y’Alls
- LHP Jordan Barrett (2018) – Gateway Grizzlies
- RHP Mike Pascoe (2019) – New York Boulders
- RHP Joey Pulido (2018-2019) – Southern Illinois Miners
- 1B Juan Kelly (2015) – Sussex County Miners
- RHP Andrew Case (2014-2015) – Team Quebec
American Association
- 1B Kacy Clemens (2017) – Kane County Cougars (now a pitcher)
- LHP Kyle Huckaby (2019) – Kane County Cougars
- RHP Justin Shafer (2014) – Kansas City Monarchs
Pioneer League
- OF Dom Abbadessa (2019) – Great Falls Voyagers
International Baseball League (Ontario, Canada)
- C Andres Sotillo (2015) – Barrie Baycats
- LHP Juliandry Higuera (2016-2017) – London Majors
- RHP Alberto Tirado (2014) – Toronto Maple Leafs
- C Mike Reeves (2013-2014) – Toronto Maple Leafs
- IF/OF Mattingly Romanin (2016-2017) – Welland Jackfish
C-Tweets
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