Big O
August 6, 2016 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
It was a long wait for Alexis Olmeda's first professional home run. The wait for number two was not very long at all.
Olmeda's second home run of the night, a two-run shot in the eighth inning off Everett reliever Elliott Surrey, completed a comeback from 5-0 down as the Hops (6-2 2nd half, 25-21 overall) defeated the AquaSox 7-5 to take the first two games of their five-game series at Memorial Stadium.
After Everett (5-3, 23-23) scored five runs in the first inning to knock Hops starting pitcher Wei-Chieh Huang off the hill, Olmeda began the comeback with a two-run homer to right center field off Matthew Festa in his first at bat in the second inning. It was the first professional homer for the former junior college All-American, who hit 14 round trippers for Yavapai College in 2015, but hadn't cleared the fence in 239 professional at bats over 70 games, all but one in the Northwest League with Hillsboro.
The Hops closed within 5-3 on a Mark Karaviotis sacrifice fly in the third inning, scoring Ben DeLuzio, who led off with a triple, his first hit as a Hop. In the sixth inning, Olmeda and Luis Veras hit back-to-back singles with two outs. Jeffeson Medina came out of the Everett pen to face Adam Walton and threw a pair of wild pitches, plating Olmeda, before Walton flied out to center.
Josh Anderson tied the game with a two-out, solo homer to right center off Medina in the seventh. A leadoff error in the eighth put Stephen Smith aboard before Olmeda belted his second homer of the night to left field to give the Hops the lead.
It was the second night in a row that a Hops player hit two home runs in a game, following Ramon Hernandez's 5-for-5, 6 RBI performance the night before. Olmeda became the fifth Hop in four years to homer twice in a game and for the second time the Hops got two-homer performances on back-to-back nights. Zach Esquerra and George Roberts repeated the feat at Boise back in 2013 in the final series of the Hops' first campaign.
Anfernee Benitez (4-4) pitched 6 1/3 innings of two-hit, scoreless relief to earn the win. Benitez allowed a two-run double to Dimas Ojeda after entering the game in the first inning with runners at first and second and two outs. Huang served up a solo home run to Everett's Ketel Marte to start the inning. Marte was making his second rehab start and played shortstop for five innings. A walk and an RBI double by Eric Filia followed. With two outs, Nick Thuman doubled in another run and Huang got the hook after walking Kristian Brito on his 34th pitch of the inning. All five Everett runs were charged to the Hops' starter.
Benitez allowed just one more hit, a one-out single by Ojeda in the fourth inning. With runners at second and third and one out in the fourth, the Hops intentionally walked Marte to pitch to Donnie Walton. On a 2-0 pitch, Walton hit a soft liner back up the middle that deflected off Benitez's glove to Adam Walton behind second base, who initated an inning-ending double play. It was the second night in a row the Hops got a key double play in the fourth inning with the bases loaded.
Benitez faced the minimum number of batters the rest of the way, striking out five with a pair of walks. Curtis Taylor tossed a scoreless, hitless eighth, pitching around a one-out walk to Nick Zammarelli. The 6-6 native of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia has logged six professional appearances without allowing a base hit in six innings since joining the Hops in July.
NWL All-Star Jake Winston struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning to record his fourth save of the season. The Hops bullpen combination of Benitez, Curtis Taylor and Winston held the Aquasox to just two hits and no runs over the final eight innings.
The Hops had ten hits with Olmeda (3-for-5, two runs, four RBI) leading the way. DeLuzio had three hits and a run scored, his first hits since joining the Hops last week from the Arizona League.
Hillsboro, now leading the NWL South Division by three full games, can clinch the series with a win Saturday night. The Hops have won six of their last seven series. Game time is 7:05 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning at 6:35 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
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