The Everett AquaSox offence was just too much for the Vancouver Canadians once again as the C’s were overwhelmed 11-5 at Everett Memorial Stadium Saturday.
Canadians starter Brian Rapp could not locate the strike zone in the first inning. He walked Zach DeLoach on four pitches to begin the game and though DeLoach was thrown out trying to steal second by Ryan Gold, he issued another walk to Patrick Frick on five pitches. Austin Shenton would step up to the plate and drill a home run to right field to give the AquaSox a 2-0 lead.
The Frogs would score again off Rapp in the third. A double by Connor Hoover started the inning and he stole third with two away. Shenton walked to extend the inning before Carter Bins singled home Hoover with the third Everett run.
The sixth inning saw the AquaSox add to their lead against Canadians reliever Brandon Eisert. The rally started when the lefty Eisert plunked Jack Larsen with a pitch. Cade Marlowe tripled home Larsen before scoring on a Joseph Rosa base hit.
The Canadians could not score against Everett starter George Kirby through the first five frames but finally hit pay dirt against reliever Igor Januario in the seventh. John Aiello watched the first four pitches miss the strike zone and Eric Rivera singled to left on the next pitch before Davis Schneider loaded the bases by drawing a full-count walk. Januario was pulled from the game by Everett manager Louis Boyd as he gave the ball to Stephen Kolek. After Rafael Lantigua popped out to first on the first pitch, Tanner Morris would work the count full before getting to ball four to score Aiello with the first Vancouver run. A wild pitch brought in Rivera and a Sebastian Espino groundout to short scored Schneider to cut Everett’s lead to 5-3.
Alex Nolan took over for Eisert in the seventh and surrendered a Shenton double to start the inning. A passed ball by Gold allowed Shenton to make it to third and he would score one out later on a sacrifice fly by Kaden Polcovich. Justin Maese replaced Nolan with the bases empty but Larsen made it to first on an infield single to second and he would scamper home on a Marlowe double to increase the Everett lead to 7-3.
Luis De Los Santos began the top of the eighth for Vancouver with a double off Kolek. De Los Santos made it to third on a Spencer Horwitz groundout to third and came in to score on on Aiello base hit to right.
Everett left no doubt it would win this game in the bottom of the eighth. Polcovich took Maese deep for a grand slam home run that plated a DeLoach single and Frick and Shenton walks.
The final run of the game belonged to Vancouver. Espino smacked a one-out triple to center field in the ninth off Kyle Hill and scored on a Gold single to right.
C-Notes
All four Canadians pitchers were all scored upon. Rapp yielded three runs on three hits, five walks and a hit batsmen over four innings, only striking out two. Brandon Eisert was knocked around for two more runs on two hits and two walks in two innings while whiffing three. Nolan coughed up a run on a hit in two-thirds of an inning. Maese was mauled for five runs on four hits and two walks in 1-1/3 innings, ringing up two batters.
The C’s committed two errors on the night as De Los Santos made a throwing error at short in the fifth inning and Morris booted one at second in the eighth. Neither miscue figured into the scoring.
The C’s managed to get at least one runner on base against Kirby in the first five innings but only managed to get a runner in scoring position twice. That feat was accomplished by Lantigua who had the first hit off the Seattle Mariners 2019 first-round pick with an infield knock to second. Lantigua would steal second base but he would be stranded there. Lantigua made it into scoring position again with a two-out double in the fifth but that was as far as he got.
Lantigua and De Los Santos both doubled and singled while Morris reached twice with two bases on balls. Espino, Gold, Horwitz and Rivera also had base knocks. Schneider drew a walk.
Lantigua has played in center field for the last two nights. That’s because Cameron Eden was placed on the seven-day injured list Saturday. He was pulled midway through Thursday’s loss in Everett. The 2019 sixth-round pick by Toronto leads the High-A West circuit with 30 stolen bases. The 24 year-old right-handed hitter has put up a batting average of .274 with a .382 on-base percentage and has four home runs and 31 runs batted in.
The Canadians are now 27-26 on the year. They are 6-1/2 games behind Eugene for second place and seven back of Everett for first.
C.J. Van Eyk gets the starting assignment in the series finale Sunday for Vancouver. Taylor Dollard is slated to throw the first pitch for Everett at 7:05 p.m. The game will be on CanadiansBaseball.com.
C’s Alumni Report
The Buffalo Bisons lost both ends of a doubleheader as they were blanked by Lehigh Valley 4-0.
- Rowdy Tellez (2014) – 0/2, BB
- Cullen Large (2017) – 0/2, BB
- Logan Warmoth (2017) – 1/2, SB
The Bisons dbropped Game 2 5-4.
- Large – 1/3
- Warmoth – 1/2, BB
- Zach Logue (2017) – 4.2IP 5H 1R/ER 2BB 3K, 49 strikes-86 pitches
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats blanked Portland 3-0.
- Samad Taylor (2017) – 0/3, BB, R
- Otto Lopez (2018) – 2/4
- Chavez Young (2017) – 1/3, 2B, 2RBI
- Vinny Capra (2018) – 0/1, 2BB
- L.J. Talley (2021) – 0/2, BB
- Marcus Reyes (2017-2018, 2021) – 1.0IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 1K, SV (1)
Cavan Biggio (2016) was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI and Tim Mayza (2014) struck out three over 1-1/3 shutout innings as Toronto knocked off Tampa Bay 6-3.
Jon Berti (2011) was 1-for-4 and scored a run in Miami’s 3-2 win to Atlanta.
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