The Vancouver Canadians walked off the Eugene Emeralds 4-3 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Thursday and punched their ticket for the 2024 Northwest League Championship Series next week.
The C’s put up a three-spot against Eugene starter Josh Wolf in the first inning. Jace Bohrofen belted the third pitch of the game over the big wall in right field to put Vancouver ahead 1-0.
Adrian Pinto walked and went to third on a Peyton Williams base hit to right. Je’Von Ward hit into a fielder’s choice at short that brought Pinto home for the C’s second run. Ward got into scoring position by stealing second base. A two-out walk by Harry kept the inning and Brennan Orf delivered a base hit to right to drive in Ward. A throwing error by James Tibbs III allowed Harry and Ward to get into scoring position but Wolf ended his night by striking out Bryce Arnold.
The Em’s fought back with a three-spot of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Allan Cerda doubled to left field off Vancouver starter Connor O’Halloran. Jack Payton struck out before Aeverson Arteaga drew a walk. Tibbs was called out on an infield fly rule on a pop-up to third. A passed ball by Nic Deschamps moved Cerda and Arteaga up 90 feet before Sabin Ceballos homered to left-center field for a three-run shot to tie the game at 3-3. O’Halloran did complete five innings by retiring Charlie Szykowny on a fly ball to right on his 93rd pitch.
That was all the scoring until the bottom of the ninth. Em’s reliever Daniel Blair looked to have retired Orf on a ground ball to short but Arteaga had trouble picking up the ball and Orf made it to first. Pinch-hitter Jackson Hornung drew a walk and made way for pinch-runner Jamari Baylor. The bases were loaded when Jace Bohrofen drew a one-out walk. Orf was replaced at third by Marcos De La Rosa who was forced out at home when Arteaga started a 6-2 putout on a Pinto ground ball. Onil Perez’s throw from the plate to get Pinto at first was dropped by Szykowny at first base. That allowed Baylor to race home with the winning run to send the C’s back to the postseason for the third year in a row.
Geison Urbaez kept the Em’s offence in check for the final four frames to get the win.
C-Notes
O’Halloran had a quick first inning which lasted just 10 pitches, starting his out by striking out Arteaga. Orf made a nice sliding catch in left field to take away a hit from Ceballos. That would not be his only big catch of the night.
The second inning was not nearly as easy for O’Halloran as a Szykowny leadoff walk, a McDaniel one-out single to left and a Cerda two-out walk loaded the bases. The Irish lefty got out of it by striking out Bandura before getting Payton to fly out to center.
Ceballos had a two-out single to center in the third but O’Halloran recorded three strikeouts by getting Arteaga looking, Tibbs swinging and Szykowny looking.
Two more Ks of Perez and Bandura bookended a perfect fourth inning for O’Halloran.
Urbaez got a huge defensive play in his first inning of work in the sixth. McDaniel hit a fly ball that was ticketed for the C’s bullpen in left field but Orf stayed with it and leaped over the short fence to snare the ball for the second out.
The inning ended on a Bandura strikeout.
The seventh and eighth innings were perfect for Urbaez as he got Cerda looking at strike three and Tibbs swinging at strike three to open the two stanzas.
The Em’s did get a runner on against Urbaez as Perez got aboard on a two-base throwing error by Arnold as the ball bounced in and out of the Eugene first base dugout. Urbaez was undeterred as he froze McDaniel for strike three, retired Bandura on a fly ball to center and struck out Cerda to send the game to the bottom of the ninth tied.
The C’s were held down by Hayden Wynja in the second inning before Williams led off the third with a base knock to left field. Harry made it on base after a two-out throwing error by Wynja but he was thrown out at second on a 3-6 play to end the inning.
Austin Strickland issued a base on balls to Orf who was forced out on an Arnold 4-6 fielder’s choice. Deschamps singled to center before being forced out on a Bohrofen 3-6 fielder’s choice. With Arnold at third, Strickland saved a run and a potentially serious injury by snaring a line drive bullet off the bat of Pinto to keep the C’s at bay.
Jay Harry banged a double off the wall in center to begin the sixth off Strickland before getting Orf to strike out swinging and Arnold was caught looking. Tyler Vogel got Deschamps to fly out to center to keep Harry 180 feet away from home. Vogel worked a clean seventh and Blair did likewise in the eighth.
With a magic number of one to clinch a playoff spot heading into Thursday, the Canadians nearly received help from the Tri-City Dust Devils for a third consecutive night but the Hillsboro Hops kept their playoff hopes alive ever so briefly with a 2-1 win at Gesa Stadium.
C’’s manager Brent Lavallee has led the club to the Northwest League Championship Series in all of his three years at the helm, winning the title in 2023. The North Delta, B.C. native will move past Rich Miller (2011, 2017), John Schneider (2011, 2014) and Clayton McCullough (2012-2013) in NWL finals appearances when the 2024 Championship Series begins. Lavallee will aim to join Miller and McCullough in the two championship ring club.
Games 1 and 2 will be played at Nat Bailey Stadium against the Spokane Indians on Tuesday, September 10 and Wednesday, September 11. The series will move to Gonzaga University in Spokane for Game 3 and Games 4 and 5 if necessary from Friday, September 13 to Sunday, September 15.
It was a triumphant return to the broadcast booth for Rob Fai. Like Geison Urbaez, Rob provided multiple innings of stellar relief after a strong start by Tyler Zickel. It was fitting that Rob got to make the call of the C’s clinching a playoff berth. He will be back to call for the final three games of the regular season.
Radar Gun Rundown
Connor O’Halloran had strikeouts clocked at 85, 81, 90, 81, 77, 76, 89 and 77 and was up to 90 miles per hour. Geison Urbaez had Ks of 100, 87 and 89.
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