Hops Prevail in Vancouver Walk-A-Thon
NWL Hillsboro Hops

Hops Prevail in Vancouver Walk-A-Thon

August 7, 2025 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release


Home plate was dancing around for the second straight night at Vancouver's Nat Bailey Stadium, only this time it affected both teams.

One night after the Hops (13-25 2nd half, 46-58 overall) overcame 14 free passes with one of their better offensive performances of the season, they seized upon the wildness of Vancouver's bullpen to secure their second straight win over the Canadians (19-19, 56-48), winning 6-3 Wednesday night.

The C's had a brief early lead before Hillsboro struck for two runs in the third off Canadians starting pitcher Jackson Wentworth (2-5). But it was bases-loaded walks in the sixth and seventh innings that really stung the home team on this night.

Slade Caldwell has struggled to hit since joining the Hops, but came into the night walking at a healthy 16% clip. The speedy rookie teenage outfielder reached base four times on this night from the leadoff spot, drawing three free passes, including a bases-loaded walk in the sixth that gave Hillsboro a 3-1 advantage.

Bo Bonds relieved Johan Simon to get the final out in that sixth inning and retired the first two Hops in the seventh before he went completely off the rails. Four walks later, Cristofer Torin strolled home as Anderdson Rojas' RBI base-on-balls gave Hillsboro a 5-1 lead.

David Hagaman--acquired by the Diamondbacks on July 31 in the deal that sent Merrill Kelly to Texas--made his organizational debut Wednesday. Two seeing-eye singles and an error on Hagaman on a botched double-play attempt led to a run in the first, but that would be the extent of the damage. Hagaman struck out three and walked one, allowing four hits over 3 2/3 innings before giving way to Denny Larrondo (3-5).

Making his second appearance out of the pen after three Hillsboro starts, the Cuban righthander kept Vancouver off the board in the fifth and sixth innings, but gave up two hits and a walk in the seventh, surrendering two runs before Carlos Rey nailed down the final out. A bobble in right by Angel Ortiz on Sean Keys' RBI single let Cutter Coffey advance to third, from where he scored an unearned run on Arjun Nimmala's sac fly to center. Larrondo fanned three and walked three over 2 2/3 innings.

Caldwell drew his third consecutive walk to lead off the eighth and raced home when Jansel Luis tripled into the left field corner. After plunking Druw Jones with a fastball, Vancouver reliever Colby Holcombe struck out three straight Hops to snuff the threat and gave the C's a realistic shot in the final two innings, trailing by three.

But big Sam Knowlton had other ideas. Rey walked back-to-back batters in the bottom of the eighth after recording two outs, prompting Hops manager Mark Reed to turn to the 6-8 Alabaman for a four-out save. Knowlton made quick work of Coffey, fanning the former Bosox prospect on three pitches to end the eighth. In the ninth, Knowlton walked Keys, the Hops ninth walk of the night, but got Nimmala to ground into a double play before punching out Carter Cunningham to end the game, nailing down his seventh save in his league-leading 37th appearance of the season.

Luis had three hits for the second consecutive night, with a double, triple, two RBI and a run scored. Caldwell went 1-for-2 with an RBI and two runs. Torin followed up his four-hit night Tuesday with two hits, a walk, two runs and two stolen bases as the Hops outhit Vancouver 9 to 7, remarkably sending the Canadians a game under .500 (25-26) in their home park this season.

The Canadians surrendered 10 walks and a hit batter in falling to 12-8 against the Hops this season. J.R. Freethy, a 2024 14th-round draft pick from the University of Nevada, went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored in his Canadians' debut. Coffey also reached base three times with a single and a pair of walks.

Game three of the series is at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night. Pregame coverage starts at 6:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620. Friday's and Sunday's games will be 1:05 "Nooners At The Nat".

Check out the Hillsboro Hops Statistics



Northwest League Stories from August 7, 2025


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