NWL1 Hillsboro Hops

Hops Walk off with Win on J-Mo Jack

Published on August 16, 2016 under Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release


The Vancouver Canadians can take solace that they won the series and played some of their best baseball of the season while they were in Hillsboro. Unfortunately, the last memory they will have is the resounding crack of Jason Morozowski's bat.

Morozowski sent the first pitch of the ninth inning over the left field wall for a game-winning home run as the Hops (11-8 second half, 30-27 overall) defeated the Canadians 6-5 in the finale of their five-game series at Ron Tonkin Field. Vancouver (7-12, 23-34) won the series 3-2 ending the Hops' series winning streak at five.

The Hops scored five runs in the first three innings and led 5-3 in the seventh. Wei-Chieh Huang struck out leadoff batter Rodrigo Orozco to lead off the seventh, his sixth punch-out since coming in the game in the fourth inning. But D.J. McKnight singled and Josh Palacios followed with a double to left center. Enter Riley Smith, who fanned cleanup hitter Jacob Anderson for the second out of the inning. Ahead in the count 1-2 with first base open, Smith caught a little too much of the plate and Cavan Biggio made him pay, stroking a two-run triple to the wall in right center field to tie the game 5-5.

Jason Morozowski sent the first pitch of the ninth inning over the left field wall for a game-winning home run as the Hops defeated the Canadians 6-5 in the finale of their five-game series at Ron Tonkin Field. Vancouver won the series 3-2 ending the Hops series winning streak at five.

The Hops scored five runs in the first three innings and led 5-3 in the seventh. Wei-Chieh Huang struck out leadoff batter Rodrigo Orozco to lead off the seventh, his sixth punch-out since coming in the game in the fourth inning. But D.J. McKnight singled and Josh Palacios followed with a double to left center. Enter Riley Smith, who fanned cleanup hitter Jacob Anderson for the second out of the inning. Ahead in the count 1-2 with first base open, Smith caught a little too much of the plate and Cavan Biggio made him pay, stroking a two-run triple to the wall in right center field to tie the game 5-5.

Smith retired the next four batters and Tommy Eveld (2-1) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth setting up Morozowski's heroics. It was Morozowski's fourth home run with the Hops and eight overall of the season (including stops at three other Diamondbacks affiliates).

Alexis Olmeda went 2-for-4 with a double, run and RBI and former Oregon Duck Mark Karaviotis reached base three times, going 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Morozowski drove in two runs and scored two.

Jackson McClelland (1-3) suffered the one-pitch loss after Geno Encina threw 4 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief for the Canadians. First-round draft pick T.J. Zeuch (Pitt) was a late scratch after being announced as the scheduled starter. The Hops instead tattooed starting pitcher Dalton Rodriguez for nine hits and five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings before Encina shut them down until the ninth.

Mack Lemieux started on the hill for the Hops, but continued to struggle with his command, walking three batters and hitting one over three innings, while allowing three runs on four hits.

The Hops provided Lemieux with an early cushion, scoring three runs in the first inning on RBI singles from Josh Anderson, Luke Lowery and Olmeda. The first four and five of the first six batters reached base against Rodriguez, but a baserunning mistake by Lowery--gunned down at second base by left fielder Rodrigo Orozco following Olmeda's single after rounding the bag to far--helped bring an end to an inning that was shaping up to be a bat-around.

Back-to-back leadoff walks in the second by Lemieux and a single by Christian Williams loaded the bases with none out for Vancouver in the second. Biggio scored on Josh Reaves foul pop-up, Hops' second baseman Adam Walton making a superb sliding catch on the ball. Then the Canadians ran out of the inning as Nash Night was caught off second base on Deiferson Barreto's shallow fly out to Stephen Smith in right center. The Canadians also lost a runner on the bases in the first inning following Orozco's leadoff walk and a passed ball, when Orozco broke early trying to steal third and was easy pickings for Lemieux.

Luis Veras walked, advanced to third on a Walton single and scored on Morozowski's groundout to up the lead to 4-1 in the second inning. Walton then made a play for third, but was thrown out by C's catcher Josh Reavis. Replays showed he beat the tag and Hops' first-base coach Jose Amado may have expressed that point to base umpire Tanner Dobson in blunt terms shortly before being sent to the showers.

The Canadians pulled to within 4-3 in the third on an RBI triple by D.J. McKnight and a run scoring ground out from Josh Palacios and Hillsboro answered with Olmeda's double and an RBI single by Chigbogu to make it 5-3 after three.

Hillsboro returns to action at Salem-Keizer Wednesday night in the first game of a key three-game series. With 19 games remaining in the regular season (three-game series at S-K, home vs. Boise and Eugene and five games series home and away vs. Spokane), the Hops can deal a mortal blow to the Volcanoes' playoff hopes with a sweep or widen the already significant gap between the two teams by winning the series. Game time is 6:35 p.m. with pregame airtime at 6:05 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

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Northwest League Stories from August 16, 2016


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