Eugene Builds Early Lead, Upends Hops Again

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NWL Hillsboro Hops

Eugene Builds Early Lead, Upends Hops Again

July 3, 2025 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release


EUGENE, ORE. - An all-too-familiar scene for the Hillsboro Hops unfolded on Wednesday night at P.K. Park: the opponent --- in this case, the Eugene Emeralds --- built a large early lead, en route to a convincing win. The Ems jumped on Hillsboro starter Daniel Nunez for eight runs in the first three innings, and beat the Hops 10-2 in the second game of a six-game series. Hillsboro has dropped 13 of their last 14 games, and six of the last eight losses have been by five runs or more.

Eugene scored two in the first, highlighted by another triple from Jonah Cox, the league leader in three-baggers. They added two in the second and four in the third, chasing Nunez after just 2.1 innings. His final line: eight hits allowed, eight runs (all earned), with one walk and one strikeout.

Ems third baseman Dayson Croes continued to do what he does: hit, and then hit some more. The unheralded 25-year-old from Aruba --- who played Division II college baseball, then two years of independent league professional baseball --- was signed by the Giants in late April to his first contract in affiliated ball. Croes went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, three runs scored and two runs batted in. In 22 games with Eugene, his slash line is .321/.421/.506, and on Wednesday he made several nice plays at third base. He has hit better than .300 at every level --- college, indy, and affiliated ball --- going back to 2020.

Hillsboro's bullpen was a bright spot in the loss. Although the quartet of Victor Morales, Liam Norris, Jorge Minyety and Edgar Isea combined to walk seven in 5.2 innings, they allowed just two runs (both unearned) on two hits with nine strikeouts.

Another bright spot: the hitting of Druw Jones, Angel Ortiz and Anderdson Rojas. Jones has hit in four consecutive games, and is 9-for-14 during the streak. Ortiz, too, has hit in four straight, going 7-for-14. And Rojas has a hit in seven games in a row, with 12 hits in 28 at-bats over those seven games.

Though Junior Franco went 0-for-3, cooling his recently hot bat, he made several scintillating plays in left field, including a running, stretching basket catch in the left field corner reminiscent of Brooklyn Dodger Sandy Amoros' famed catch in Game Seven of the 1955 World Series.

Emeralds starter Cesar Perdomo tossed five shutout innings, allowing just three hits, with one walk and five strikeouts. He improved to 6-4 with the win.

The Hops scored their runs in the sixth inning against reliever Josh Wolf on an RBI double by Kenny Castillo and a sacrifice fly by Ortiz. Eugene relievers Liam Simon and Esmerlin Vinicio each threw a scoreless inning to close things out.

The Hops will shoot for their first win of the series on Thursday night in Eugene, with airtime at 6:20PM on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com. The scene then shifts to Hillsboro for the final three games of the series Friday through Sunday, with postgame fireworks shows scheduled for Friday, July 4th and Saturday, July 5th.

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