Torrent of Runs Takes Tri-City to Fifth Straight Win
June 22, 2025 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release
Tri-City Dust Devils catcher Caleb Pendleton
(Tri-City Dust Devils)
PASCO - An early 5-0 deficit turned out to be little trouble for the Tri-City Dust Devils (2-0 2H, 32-36) Saturday night, with the home nine scoring 14 unanswered runs in three bursts to beat the Hillsboro Hops (0-2 2H, 33-35) in front of 2,534 fans at Gesa Stadium.
The first big blow, in the bottom of the 3rd inning, came from a likely candidate: 1B Ryan Nicholson. The lefty masher followed a single from CF Anthony Scull and a walk to 3B Cole Fontenelle with a three-run home run to right field, cutting what was a 5-0 Hillsboro lead to two at 5-3. Two innings later Tri-City exploded for five runs to take the lead, with SS Capri Ortiz's bases-clearing triple off Hillsboro reliever Ricardo Yan (3-2) to right-center field pushing Tri-City in front at 7-5. Sacrifice flies by 2B Adrian Placencia and RF David Calabrese bookended Ortiz's three-bagger, with the Dust Devils taking an 8-5 lead to the 6th inning. Reliever Logan Britt (3-1) pitched two scoreless middle innings to get the win, part of a bullpen night that saw Britt, Bridger Holmes and Roman Phansalkar combine to throw five scoreless innings of relief behind starter Keythel Key. The home nine then expanded the lead to the thrill of the crowd, first with C Juan Flores's RBI single to push the advantage to 9-5. The hits kept coming from there, with Calabrese and Scull collecting RBI doubles to take the lead to 11-6. The coup de grace came with two out and two on in the 7th inning, with C Caleb Pendleton pinch-hitting in the DH spot. Pendleton's first at-bat of 2025 was a memorable one, a blast to deep left clearing the old fences for a second three-run homer that brought the house down and finished the scoring in Tri-City's fifth straight win.
DUST DEVILS NOTES
-The win marked the third time in the High-A/Angels era that the Dust Devils won five games in a row, with all three streaks in the midst of a six-game series. Tri-City beat later NWL champions Eugene in five straight in 2021 in Pasco, and the team did the same to Everett in 2022 at Gesa Stadium. No Dust Devils squad in the High-A era has swept a six-game series.
-Manager Dann Bilardello's team's 14 run evening set a new high-bar in scoring for the club in 2025, with their 14 hits matching the single-game high for the year. Every player for the Dust Devils who batted scored, including the pinch-hitter Caleb Pendleton with his homer, and seven of nine drove in runs.
-Ryan Nicholson came a triple shy of hitting for the cycle Saturday night, scoring three runs on the evening and reaching base in all four plate appearances. He singled in his first plate appearance and followed the home run with a double down the right field line. Nicholson has returned to being a major threat at the plate, hitting .339 with four home runs and 13 RBI in the month of June.
SUNDAY SWEEP SOUGHT
Tri-City and Hillsboro take on one another in the finale of the six-game series at 7:05 p.m. Sunday night. It'll be another Love at 425 Night presented by Papa Murphy's, with the take-and-bake experts available in the first-base tunnel to talk and give away some goodies.
Right-hander Chris Cortez (1-1, 3.39 ERA) of the Dust Devils gets the start, countered by Hops rightly Lorenzo Encarnacion (0-1, 19.06 ERA) of the Hops.
Free broadcast coverage (video in the MiLB Zone of Bally Sports Live, audio at dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB app) begins with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 6:45 p.m.
For tickets to Sunday night's finale, and for all 2025 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.
Gesa Stadium, home of your Tri-City Dust Devils, has been nominated as Best Single-A Ballpark in America by Newsweek! VOTE HERE now to help bring home another award for our beloved ballpark!
Images from this story
 Tri-City Dust Devils catcher Caleb Pendleton |
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