EUGENE, ORE. – The theme has remained the same throughout this season-opening series for the Eugene Emeralds and Boise Hawks. The theme that has formed seems to runs in bunches.
That didn’t change on June 20 when the two teams met for game four of this five game series.
The Emeralds (3-1) score all nine of their runs in two innings — the fifth and seventh — on way to their 9-4 victory.
Both teams offenses looked as of they were starting to get back into game speed as the two teams combined for 22 total hits — 11 for each team.
There was no better case of the players starting to hit form then the Emeralds’ center fielder Donavan Tate. He finished the game 3-for-5 and two RBIs.
“You know it felt good to get a couple hits in but we got out there and got a good win today,” Tate said. “The last few games we had left players on base in scoring position, so we have been working on situational hitting and getting runners across when we need too.”
Tate, who was selected with the third-overall pick in the 2009 draft, entered the game without a hit on a team-high 13 at-bats and had struck out five times.
Eugene skipper Pat Murphy had nothing but positive things to say about Tate who is playing as an Emerald on a rehab assignment.
“Tate’s stolen base, he took away a base by making a nice running catch last night and another one tonight, and he cut a ball a off two nights ago. ” Murphy said. “While he is doing his rehab he is doing a lot of great things for us.”
Boise (1-3) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning after Pin-Chieh Chen earned his second RBI of the season off of a sacrifice fly, and Hawks’ second baseman Yaniel Zapenas hit a RBI-double — scoring shortstop Wes Davill.
The Emeralds were unable to score against Boise’s starting pitcher Willengton Cruz in his four innings of work.
Cruz, a left-hander from the Dominican Republic, shut down Eugene’s offense with his pitch control and his off-speed pitches. He finished the game with seven strikeouts.
“The kid from the other team deserves a lot of credit,” Murphy said. “ It was tough to pick up, he threw a nice change-up and he wasn’t afraid to throw it.”
In the fifth inning the Emeralds would go on to score four runs off of a pair of two-run doubles by shortstop Jace Peterson and right fielder Lee Orr — putting the San Diego Padres affiliate up 4-2.
Peterson, a first round pick in this year’s MLB draft, took a pitch off of his hand in his previous at-bat in the third inning when looking for a bunt.
When asked about the injury Murphy said that Peterson had a big welt on his hand, but was able to play through the pain.
The lead would be short lived, the Hawks would respond with one run in each of the sixth and seventh innings. The run in the top of the seventh, which evened the score at four runs apiece, was off a controversial balk by Emeralds pitcher Simon Berroa.
It looked as if the game was going to stay close in the bottom of the seventh inning but Eugene’s catcher Matthew Colantonio hit a two-run double with two outs.
Colantonio, who made his first start of the season, looked as if he was going to be out when he hit a routine pop fly to center field but Chen was unable to field the ball.
“It’s a lot better to be lucky and I was just trying to put the ball into play and score the runner from second and it ended up being a nice play for us,” Colantonio said jokingly about the missed ball. “It was a blast – I got to play the whole game which is nice.”
Later in the inning, Tate would hit a two-run double to secure the lead at 9-4.
The Emeralds and Hawks will wrap-up the five game series at PK Park June 21. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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