Dust Devils Complete Historic Sweep of Hillsboro
June 23, 2025 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release
Tri-City Dust Devils first baseman Matt Coutney
(Tri-City Dust Devils)
PASCO - Solid pitching and big hits once more proved a successful formula Sunday night for the Tri-City Dust Devils (3-0 2H, 33-36), whose 5-2 win over the Hillsboro Hops (0-3 2H, 33-36) at Gesa Stadium completed the team's first-ever six-game series sweep.
All the runs came in the bottom of the 3rd inning, after Tri-City starter Chris Cortez (2-2) and Hillsboro starter Lorenzo Encarnacion (0-3) combined to keep the game scoreless early. The five-spot started innocently enough with a one-out bunt single by C Peter Burns. LF David Calabrese singled to right, moving Burns to second, and CF Anthony Scull followed with an RBI single to left to plate Burns for a 1-0 lead and move Calabrese to third. After Encarnacion fell behind 3B Cole Fontenelle to the tune of three balls, no strikes, the Hops elected to intentionally walk Fontenelle and load the bases. A wild pitch scored Calabrese to double the Dust Devils' advantage to 2-0. The Hops got a second out, bringing 1B Matt Coutney to the plate with two on. The lefty then continued to torment Hillsboro, launching a three-run home run to make it 5-0 for the home nine. The longball was Coutney's tenth home run of the year, and sixth against the Hops in 2025.
Cortez fought with his control again, walking five but getting through five innings giving up only a run on two hits. Carlos Espinosa covered two innings out of the bullpen, giving up a run on two hits, and Sandy Gastón threw a scoreless 8th inning. Dylan Phillips pitched the 9th, getting the final three outs for his second save of the week and third of the year.
DUST DEVILS NOTES
-Tri-City's series sweep is the first for the club since they won all three games of the opening series of the 2022 season, on the road at Hillsboro. In the High-A/Angels era the Dust Devils had won five games in a row in a series twice, first against later NWL champions Eugene in 2021 and the following year over Everett. Both of those streaks occurred at Gesa Stadium.
-Both of Chris Cortez's professional wins have come against Hillsboro, with his first coming in a start April 25th at Hillsboro Ballpark. The righty from Las Vegas, Nevada, bears a 1.95 ERA in his five outings against the Hops, striking out 22 over his 27.2 innings against them.
-Matt Coutney hit .412 (7-for-17) in the sweep, homering three times and driving in six runs. The Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada native walked more times (7) than he struck out (5), compiling a slash line of .583 OBP/.941 SLG/1.524 OPS and stealing a crucial base to score the winning run of Friday night's 5-4 win.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Tri-City rides its six-game winning wave to Vancouver, visiting the Canadians at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium for a six-game set. The first three games have been scheduled for 7:05 p.m. starts, with Friday-Sunday's contests getting early afternoon calls at 1:05 p.m.
Free audio-only coverage will begin with the Dust Devils Pregame Show, starting 20 minutes before first pitch at dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB app.
The Dust Devils return home after their time abroad to host the Spokane Indians for a three-game series beginning on a Coca-Cola Tuesday night, July 1st, at 7:05 p.m. The short set ends with the annual Independence Day
Fireworks extravaganza on Thursday, July 3rd, with the teams then decamping to Spokane Valley for three more games over the weekend.
For tickets to the Spokane series, and for all 2025 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.
Gesa Stadium, home of your Tri-City Dust Devils, has been nominated as Best Single-A Ballpark in America by Newsweek! VOTE HERE now to help bring home another award for our beloved ballpark!
Images from this story
 Tri-City Dust Devils first baseman Matt Coutney |
Northwest League Stories from June 23, 2025
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- Dust Devils Complete Historic Sweep of Hillsboro - Tri-City Dust Devils
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