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NWL1 Eugene Emeralds

Mort's Masterful Outing Powers Ems to Series Win

June 20, 2019 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Eugene Emeralds News Release


When the team arrived in Eugene, pitching coach Armando Gabino was noticeably excited when discussing the early season pitching staff and what they could accomplish this season. For the first week of the season, his excitement level seems justified.

The Emeralds (4-3) rode a brilliant performance from Zach Mort, plus strong efforts from Raidel Orta and Riley McCauley, to a 3-0 series-ending victory in Vancouver over the Canadians (2-5) in front of 5,264 fans at Nat Bailey Stadium, winning the series three games to one as well.

Zach Mort located his fastball masterfully through his 6.0 innings of work, a career high, executing pitches on both sides of the plate and generating soft contact from the Vancouver offense all afternoon. He allowed only two hits and racked up four strikeouts along the way.

Canadians' starting pitcher Alex Kloffenstein stifled the Ems' bats early on as well, though he was limited to only 3.2 innings of work because of a strict pitch limit.

In the top of the fifth, the Ems finally broke through off of reliever Nicolas Medina. Fernando Kelli uncorked a double down the left field line to open the inning, before Jonathan Soto drove a ringing double off the right field wall to score him for the first run of the game. Later in the inning, Jake Slaughter came through with a two-strike, two-out single to right to score Soto, giving the Emeralds a 3-2 lead.

After Mort exited after 6.0 innings, Raidel Orta made his first appearance of the season. Though he got into trouble, putting runners on second and third with two outs, he induced an inning-ending groundout off the bat of McGregory Contreras to end the frame.

Riley McCauley struggled with his fastball command, but stayed focused to record five strikeouts in the eighth and ninth innings, earning his first save of the season.

The Ems added an insurance run in the ninth inning for the second consecutive night, thanks to another double from Jonathan Soto, scoring Fernando Kelli.

The Emeralds now return home for a four-game series against the Tri-City Dust Devils, beginning Friday at 7:05pm at PK Park.

Tickets to Emeralds home games are on sale now at EmeraldsBaseball.com or by calling (541) 342-5367.

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