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NWL1 Eugene Emeralds

Ems Fall to Volcanoes as Jensen Makes Pro Debut

July 13, 2019 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Eugene Emeralds News Release


An early lead wouldn't hold on Friday night as the Eugene Emeralds (11-17) fell to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (19-9) by a final score of 11-8 at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Oregon.

Coming off a 5-4 victory the night prior, the Ems aimed to make it two-in-a-row over the first place Volcanoes, and early in the ballgame it appeared that the Emeralds were well on their way to doing just that.

Eugene struck first in the top of the first, the second time in three games that the Ems have scored in the opening frame. Fernando Kelli, returning to the lineup for the first time since July 6, led off the game with a single to center field, and Emeralds outfielder Nelson Maldonado followed by blasting the first home run of his professional career, a shot over the right field fence that gave the Ems an early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the inning, Chicago Cubs 2019 first rounder Ryan Jensen made his long-awaited professional debut, and the former Fresno State Bulldog showed some promise while also struggling with his command at times. After issuing a leadoff walk to Simon Whiteman, Jensen got back-to-back groundouts from Sean Roby and Franklin Labour, respectively, but then allowed a walk, a single, and another walk in quick succession. After allowing a run and racking up more than 30 pitches, Jensen was pulled in favor of Chris Allen who retired the first batter he faced to get the Emeralds out of the inning having allowed just one run.

Eugene's offense immediately responded in the top of the second. With Jake Slaughter on third and Luis Vazquez on second with one out, Jacob Olson brought both runners home with a double to left field, Olson's third and fourth RBIs over the past three games. Later in the inning, Nelson Maldonado tallied his third RBI of the day with a single to score Olson, and Chase Strumpf joined the action with an RBI sac fly to left field that scored Kelli, who had previously reached on a single earlier in the inning. All told, the Emeralds posted four runs in the second inning to carry a 6-1 lead into the bottom half of the frame.

Once again, though, Salem-Keizer would respond. The Volcanoes plated three runs in the bottom of the second, all coming with two outs. A Jake Slaughter throwing error on the would-be third out of the inning allowed the first Salem-Keizer run to score in the form of Jeff Houghtby, and an Alexander Canario double two batters later brought home two more runs for the Volcanoes, cutting their deficit to 6-4 after two wild innings of play.

The bats briefly went quiet for both sides until the fifth inning when the Volcanoes took their first lead of the game thanks to a five-run inning, again all coming with two outs. Recent addition Bryan King started the frame by retiring the first two Volcanoes batters in order, but a single surrendered to Armani Smith, a pair of walks and a wild pitch led to a bases loaded jam for the Ems. King was lifted for Oregon State product John Pomeroy, but he immediately ran into more trouble as well. The former Beaver walked the first batter he faced to force home a run, then back-to-back doubles by the Volcanoes brought home four more runs in total as Salem-Keizer carried a 9-6 lead into the sixth inning.

The Volcanoes added a run in the sixth and another in the seventh to take a commanding 11-6 lead into the late innings, but the Emeralds offense did what it could to try and muster a comeback. Fernando Kelli collected his 11th RBI of the season on a sac fly to score Jacob Olson in the eighth, and an RBI single by Luis Vazquez in the ninth cut the deficit to three, but Salem-Keizer allowed Eugene no closer as they held on for an 11-8 win in front of an announced crowd of 3,237 at Volcanoes Stadium.

Ryan Jensen finished the day having tossed 0.2 innings with one hit, one run and three walks allowed. At the plate, Maldonado finished the day with a team-high 3 RBI while Kelli went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in his return.

The Emeralds and Volcanoes wrap their four-game series on Saturday night at 6:35pm PST at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Oregon. You can listen live at 95.3FM The Score or on the TuneIn app.

Tickets to Emeralds home games are on sale now at www.EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.

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