Hops Slug Way to Spokane Split
August 13, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
In the afternoon after a late-night collapse, the HIllsboro Hops pounded Saturday nights memories out of the park.
Riding four home runs including a pair by the Diamondbacks top draft picks this year, Hillsboro pulled away with nine runs in the final three innings to clobber Spokane 10-4, earning a split of the six-game series at Avista Stadium.
After hitting under .100 over his first weeks as a Hop, former BYU infielder Andrew Pintar busted out in a big way, going 4-for-4 with three runs and flirting with a cycle with a double and his first Hillsboro home run, leading the 11-hit Hops parade.
Top draft picks Tommy Troy (Stanford, 1st round) and Gino Groover (N.C. State, 2nd round) went back-to-back in the eighth inning, with Troy finishing with two hits and four runs batted in and Groover extending his career-opening hit streak to seven pro games.
Kevin Graham capped the Hops scoring with a two-run poke to right in the ninth his second hit of the day.
Listher Sosa picked up the win, allowing a run in two relief innings with two strikeouts and no walks. Starting pitcher Dylan Ray slayed some demons, allowing just one run with nine strikeouts and one walk, but his start was limited to four innings and 73 pitches.
Spokane starting pitcher Jarrod Cande allowed only one run on Pintar's fifth-inning solo shot to left. That tied the game at one. Spokane regained the lead on a Robby Martin, Jr. RBI double off Sosa in the bottom of the sixth inning before the Hops began to unload in the seventh.
Brayan Castillo suffered the loss, tagged for three unearned runs in the top of the seventh. A misplay on a potential inning-ending double play mirrored the Hops defensive struggles from the night before and allowed Josh Day to score the tying run after he had opened the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Gino Groover followed with a go-ahead RBI single, a laser line drive off the glove of the diving third baseman Jamari Baylor to plate Pintar. After David Martin walked to load the bases, Castillo committed his second balk of the inning and league-leading ninth of the season to bring home Troy.
Hillsboro heads to Everett to complete the back half of its two-week road trip after an off day Monday.
Northwest League Stories from August 13, 2023
- Everett Split Series in Eugene - Everett AquaSox
- Emeralds Take Series Finale Against AquaSox - Eugene Emeralds
- Hops Slug Way to Spokane Split - Hillsboro Hops
- Brown, Doughty Slug C's to Series Sweep - Vancouver Canadians
- Sox Tie It in the 9th, Win It in the 10th - Everett AquaSox
- Bewildered in B.C.: Dust Devils Clipped Again by Canadians - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Cardiac Canadians Do It Again to Win 8-7 - Vancouver Canadians
- No Love in the Glove, Hops Blow Lead in 9th - Hillsboro Hops
- Emeralds Drop Game 5 in Extra Innings - Eugene Emeralds
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