Sports stats



NWL1 Hillsboro Hops

Hops Outlast C's in 14-Inning Marathon

August 16, 2015 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release


It started as a runaway and turned into a walk-off.

The Hillsboro Hops led Vancouver 8-0 at the end of the fourth, but needed a bit of good fortune to force extra innings, scoring a two-out tying run in the ninth before Gerard Hernandez's base hit up the middle in the 14th inning clinched a 10-9 win over the Vancouver Canadians.

It was the longest game by innings and time (5:19) in 2015 and nearly the biggest collapse in team history.

For the second time this year, the Hops had their way with Vancouver starting pitcher Evan Smith, pounding the 6-6 lefty for five runs in 2 2/3 innings, capped by Trevor Mitsui's solo home run to center field to lead off the third inning.

Number one overall draft pick Dansby Swanson made his third pro start a memorable one, scoring a run in the first after reaching base on a fielder's choice before driving in Joey Armstrong with a triple to left field in the second inning for his first professional hit and run batted in. Swanson added an RBI double and another run in the fourth inning when the Hops tacked on three more runs against C's reliever Dan Young to take an 8-0 lead.

Cody Reed tossed five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and three hits allowed to bounce back from a run of three short starts. When Reed left the game, it appeared his fifth win of the season was a sure thing.

Au contraire. Kirby Bellow entered the game in the sixth inning with 11 pro appearances under his belt and a spotless earned run average. His fourth appearance as a Hop went badly as the first five Vancouver batters reached base in the sixth, capped by a 2-run ground rule double to left field by Carl Wise. With two outs, Rolondo Segovia belted another RBI ground rule double to left center. Ariel Hernandez came on and surrendered a walk and an RBI single to Ryan Metzler and the Canadians had pulled to within 8-6.

In the seventh, Will Landsheft recorded the first two outs, but allowed a walk to Carl Wise and a seeing-eye base hit to Josh Reavis. With runners at first and second, Landsheft got a fastball in on the hands to Gunnar Heidt and broke his bat, but Heidt blooped a perfectly placed hit between the oncoming left fielder Gerard Hernandez and the outgoing shortstop Dansby Swanson. The two collided, Heidt had a double and the Hops manager and trainer had two players to check up on. Hernandez and Swanson were none the worse for wear, but the Hops lead was almost gone. After the injury delay, Hillsboro changed pitchers again and Brody Greer balked Reavis home with tthe tying run before throwing a pitch to make it 8-8.

In the eighth, Greer hit leadoff batter Andrew Guillotte with the first pitch moved him to second with another balk. A passed ball advanced the speedy leadoff man to third and forced the Hops to pull in their infield. With one out, Justin Atkinson smoked a ground ball to the left of Swanson, who made a superb diving backhand stop and threw out Atkinson from his knees as Guillotte raced home with the go-ahead run.

As the Candadians made their shocking comeback from eight runs down, reliever Sean Ratliffe held the Hops in check. The right hander tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks. Vancouver closer Andrew Case recorded the final two outs in the eighth and came out in the ninth looking for his NWL-leading ninth save.

Luis Veras jumped on a first-pitch fast ball and ripped it into the left field corner for a double. The Hops would load the bases with none out after Nate Irving was hit on the wrist by a pitch and Hernandez drew a walk. Case fanned the pinch-hitting Alexis Olmeda and Armstrong followed with a fly ball to shallow center field. As Veras raced toward the plate, Guillotte's throw bounced up the third base line. Catcher Kevin Garcia gathered it in and reached back toward the base line to try to put a two-hand tag on Veras, but the ball squirted out of his glove a split second before he made contact with the baserunner and the Hops had evened the score 9-9. Alcantara grounded out stranding the winning run at third and the teams went to extra innings.

The Hops had two good chances to win it, loading the bases in the tenth and 11th innings, but couldn't score. Gerard Hernandez struck out with the bases loaded to end the tenth. In the 11th, Olmeda led off with a base hit and Joey Armstrong reached first safely when Vancouver pitcher Josh DeGraaf botched his sacrifice bunt with an errant throw. With runners at the corners and none out, Guillotte exchanged gloves and joined the infield. He would not be needed as Alcantara flied out to shallow left for the first out. After an intentional walk to Swanson, DeGraaf struck out Cribbs for the second out of the inning, then coaxed a harmless ground out to short to end the threat.

Cribbs was hitting in the three-hole after replacing Josh Anderson at third base in the seventh inning. As the Hops bullpen rebounded from its mid-game collapse and continued to put up zero after zero, it became apparent that they would run out of available arms if the game continued much longer. After Greer finished his 2 1/3 inning run after striking out six Canadians batters, Taylor Clarke fanned the side in order in the tenth. Cameron Gann pitched a scoreless 11th inning with one punchout, then Kevin Simmons retired the side in the 12th. Simmons had pitched an inning the night before and took the loss and was able to squeeze out one more inning, pitching around a pair of walks and two wild pitches to keep the C's off the board in the 13th by striking out the side.

In the 14th inning, with the Hops down to one player remaining on their bench and no more viable options in the pen, Cribbs took over on the mound. Hillsboro had never used a position player on the mound in 210 previous games. Cribbs had not pitched in a game in three years at three different colleges. But that didn't stop the Hops utility man, who nearly surrendered a home run on his first pitch to Carl Wise, who sent a towering fly that carried to the wall in left for a leadoff double. Cribbs calmly induced a pop out from Reavis, got Heidt to chase a high fastball for a strikeout and Earl Burl III fouled out the catcher Olmeda, who made a tumbling catch behind the plate as he battled the wind.

With Vancouver running out of options, the Canadians turned to lefty Michael Kraft in the 13th, who had started but lasted only 1 1/3 innings in his last outing on Aug. 11. Kraft tosed a scoreless 13th and got the first out in the 14th before hitting Trevor Mitsui on the foot with a pitch. Veras followed with his third hit of the night. After Stephen Dezzi flied out to right to move Mitsuit to third, Hernandez followed with a single up the middle to plate Mitsui with the game-winning run.

The Hops used a franchise-record nine pitchers and their 22 combined strikeouts were also a club record and two away from the NWL record, set by Tri-City against Everett in 2010, also a 14-inning game. Hillsboro finished with a season-high 18 hits, led by Mitsui (3 for 7, home run, four runs, two rbi) and Veras (3 for 8, two doubles, rbi, run scored). Swanson, who went 0-for-6 in his first two games, reached base four times and scored two runs with two RBI. Designated hitter Nate Irving also reached base four times, going 1-for-2 with an RBI double, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Ryan Metzler and Josh Reavis each had three hits for Vancouver. Metzler and struck out four times against four different pitchers. NWL home run leader Sean Hurley did him one better, wearing the platinum sombrero with five strikeouts against four different pitchers. Nine different Canadians batters fanned in the game.

Check out the Hillsboro Hops Statistics



Northwest League Stories from August 16, 2015


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.

Other Recent Hillsboro Hops Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central