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NWL Tri-City Dust Devils

Tri-City Puts Shutout Shoe on Hillsboro's Other Foot

July 3, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release


Tri-City Dust Devils' Bryce Osmond on the mound
Tri-City Dust Devils' Bryce Osmond on the mound
(Tri-City Dust Devils)

Starter Bryce Osmond gave his best professional outing for the Tri-City Dust Devils (3-5 2H, 37-37) Sunday night, helping his team to a 3-0 shutout win over the Hillsboro Hops (3-5 2H, 27-47) at Gesa Stadium.

Osmond (2-6) gave up only three hits in 6.1 stellar innings of work, striking out a career-high nine Hillsboro batters in his longest outing as a pro. He walked three along the way but worked out of possible trouble, ending four of his innings with strikeouts to repel the Hops attack.

The righty handed the baton to Tri-City reliever Roman Phansalkar, his teammate going back to their days at Oklahoma State, with a runner on in the top of the 7th. After a walk to the first man he faced, Phansalkar retired the next five batters, preserving the lead through the 8th inning. Erik Martinez went through Hillsboro 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th for his first save as a Dust Devil, completing the shutout a night after the Hops handed Tri-City a 6-0 defeat.

Hillsboro starter Yilber Diaz (1-6) made it through a strange six-inning quality start, keeping his team in the game despite throwing a Hops-record six wild pitches and getting charged with a balk. The righty, who had previously uncorked a total of three wild pitches in 12 starts, struck out eight but got the loss, falling to 0-2 against the Dust Devils in 2023.

Tri-City got on the board in the bottom of the 1st via a hard-hit RBI single from 1B Matt Coutney that bounced off the glove of his counterpart, Hillsboro 1B Shane Muntz, and into right field. Dust Devils SS Arol Vera, who blooped a single to left and moved up to second on Diaz's first wild pitch, came home to give the home nine a 1-0 lead.

That lead doubled in the bottom of the 3rd inning when CF D'Shawn Knowles led off the inning with a booming home run over the right field wall, measured at 412 feet. The switch-hitting Bahamian took the tour for the second time in 2023, both home runs coming from the left-hand side.

Tri-City added its third and final run of the night the next inning, with LF Casey Dana and C Myles Emmerson linking back-to-back singles to put two on with one out in the bottom of the 4th. Diaz then balked, moving the runners up to second and third. 2B Osmy Gregorio followed with a slow groundball to the left side, giving Dana enough time to get home for the 3-0 lead the Dust Devils would protect the remainder of the night.

Offensively, both Arol Vera and Matt Coutney had two hits and a walk to reach base three times. D'Shawn Knowles's home run was his second in his last eight games, after hitting only one home run in 84 games for Tri-City in 2022.

The win guaranteed the Dust Devils at least a series split and gives the team an opportunity to win the series in the finale with the Hops at 7:05 p.m. Monday night at Gesa Stadium. The game will be followed by Independence Day Fireworks, presented by UScellular, lighting the night sky in red, white, and blue.

Tri-City is scheduled to send left-hander Sammy Natera, Jr. (1-4, 4.20 ERA) to the mound for the start, while Hillsboro will loop right-hander Joe Elbis (0-2, 5.31) around for his second start of the series. Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for Monday night's contest are on sale now, with special ticket rates available for groups of 20 or more. For more information on Dust Devils single game, season, mini-plan (11, 22, 33) and group tickets, visit dustdevilsbaseball.com, call the team office at (509) 544-8789, or visit the team office (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on game nights, or Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. otherwise).

Check out the Tri-City Dust Devils Statistics




Images from this story

Tri-City Dust Devils' Bryce Osmond on the mound
Tri-City Dust Devils' Bryce Osmond on the mound
   



Northwest League Stories from July 3, 2023


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