AquaSox Win 6-5 in Ten Innings
September 6, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Everett AquaSox News Release
EVERETT, WA: It has been one long party in Everett this week as the AquaSox clinched a playoff spot on Monday and came back with a walk off win on Wednesday night. The heroes of the night were Hogan Windish, who hit his league leading 21st home run and knocked in his league leading 79th and 80th RBIs, and James Parker, who walked it off with a single in the tenth.
The Emeralds struck first in the top of the first inning, using the ground attack to take an early lead. Leadoff hitter Grant McCray walked, stole second, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI groundout from Carter Howell.
This lead would not last long for Eugene. After their starter Seth Lonsway walked the first two hitters he saw, Gabriel Gonzalez made the two free passes hurt, destroying an opposite field home run over the right center field fence. It was his ninth as a Frog, and it made it a 3-1 Everett lead.
Eugene scratched across another run in the top of the third, but this was quickly erased when Windish homered to make it a 4-2 game. This in part led to Lonsway's exit after only 3.1 innings. He gave up four runs on five hits and five walks.
But the Emeralds would not quit. They crept back into the game in the fifth inning using a longwinded rally to score two runs. Howell had an RBI single, and Zach Morgan had a sacrifice fly to tie the game at four. The rally chased AquaSox starter, Raul Alcantara. He went five innings of four run ball and struck out seven, while walking three. After five innings, the game was tied and both teams had turned to their bullpens.
The AquaSox bullpen faced their first major test in the sixth inning when Eugene put runners at second and third with nobody out. Everett reliever, Luis Curvelo used two ground outs and a lineout to escape the jam and keep the game tied.
Curvelo got through the seventh as well before handing the reigns to Troy Taylor and Sam Carlson who pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings respectively. The bullpen trio allowed only two hits in four innings of work and kept the Emeralds off the scoreboard.
But as good as Everett's bullpen was, Eugene's was even better. They got through 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball. Brett Standlee, Nick Morreale, Eric Silva, and Cameron Cotter only gave up two hits and struck out seven as they held the AquaSox scoreless. Nine innings was not enough, and the game went to extra innings.
Eugene managed to score their free run in the tenth. Aeverson Artega hit a ground ball to shortstop Cole Young with runners at first and third with nobody out. Young decided to turn the double play instead of gunning down the runner at home, gambling that the Frogs would be able to score their "free runner" in the bottom of the inning.
This gamble immediately paid off as Windish doubled in the "free runner" to start the inning, and James Parker picked up a walk-off RBI single with two outs to win the game and hand Everett a 6-5 win.
The Frogs now lead the Northwest League second half standings by one game with four games remaining in the regular season. Everett will host the first two games of the 2023 Northwest League playoffs on Tuesday, September 12th and Wednesday, September 13th against the Vancouver Canadians. Both games will begin at 7:05.
Northwest League Stories from September 6, 2023
- AquaSox Win 6-5 in Ten Innings - Everett AquaSox
- Emeralds Drop 2nd Straight to Everett - Eugene Emeralds
- Canadians on Wrong End of Wednesday Walk-off - Vancouver Canadians
- Streak Snapped, Hops Fall 4-2 - Hillsboro Hops
- Dust Devils Done in by Canadians - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Bats Stay Hot, Hops Win Sixth Consecutive Game - Hillsboro Hops
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
