Travel-Weary Hops Blast Boise 9-5
September 2, 2015 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
BOISE, IDAHO --- A bus journey of nearly nine hours, followed by a near-immediate trip to the ballpark, left the Hillsboro Hops unfazed. They pounded out 14 hits --- including four by Stephen Dezzi --- in the series opener on Tuesday at Memorial Stadium in Boise in a 9-5 win.
The win leaves the Hops (19-14 in the second half, 41-30 overall) one game behind Eugene in the second-half race with five to play. Hillsboro, already in the playoffs as the first-half champion, is trying to win both halves for the second straight year. Boise (14-19, 28-43) was eliminated from contention last weekend.
The Hops scored three times in the top of the first against Boise starter Javier Palacios. Sergio Alcantara walked and Dansby Swanson singled. Grant Heyman and Trevor Mitsui followed with run-scoring singles --- for Mitsui, the seventh straight game in which he's driven home a run.
Hops starter Tyler Mark allowed an unearned run in the first inning, and a two-run, game-tying double in the third by Boise's Brian Mundell. But he pitched out of jams in the third and fourth, and ended up allowing three runs, two earned, in five innings.
Hillsboro regained the lead in the sixth on a double by Dezzi and a triple by Nate Robertson, then scored three more times in the seventh on just one hit. Heyman drew a walk from reliever Angel Lezama, and Mitsui and Josh Anderson were each hit by a pitch --- the second time each had been plunked in the game --- and Alexis Olmeda drew a walk to bring home a run. After Salvador Justo relieved Lezama, Gerard Hernandez's sacrifice fly made it 6-3 Hops, and Dezzi followed with his fourth hit, scoring Anderson for a 7-3 lead.
Dezzi became the 13th Hop in franchise history --- and the fifth this season --- to record a four-hit game.
Jeferson Mejia worked two innings --- the sixth and seventh --- and though he allowed two hits and walked three, he gave up just one run. Breckin Williams pitched around a pair of one-out singles to notch a scoreless eighth. And by the time Cameron Gann came on to work the ninth, the Hops had added a run in the eighth on another hit by Heyman, and a run in the ninth on a single by Swanson.
Gann issued a two-out walk in the bottom of the ninth to Tyler Follis, who scored on Nate Causey's base hit. But Gann got Wesley Jones to ground out to third to end the game.
The Hops face Boise in Wednesday in the second game of the three-game series. Airtime is 5:15 Pacific on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com.
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