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NWL Tri-City Dust Devils

Tri-City Topples Hillsboro on Windy Thursday Night

May 17, 2024 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release


Tri-City Dust Devils' Ryan Costeiu on the mound
Tri-City Dust Devils' Ryan Costeiu on the mound
(Tri-City Dust Devils)

On a night when a whipping west wind challenged anything not nailed down the Tri-City Dust Devils (16-19) hung on for a 4-3 win over the Hillsboro Hops (17-18) Thursday at Gesa Stadium that gave Tri-City its seventh win in its last nine games.

SS Caleb Ketchup's 7th inning home run, a high fly to left that rode the breeze over the fence, ended up the difference in the game. The Dust Devils bullpen successfully held off a late Hillsboro charge to take a two-games-to-one series lead, with closer Cam Minacci grabbing his sixth save of the year.

Ryan Costeiu got the start for Tri-City, returning to High-A baseball and the Gesa Stadium mound for the first time since July 16, 2022. The Clayton, California right-hander, who spent 2023 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, threw 2.2 scoreless no-hit innings in his return and struck out three. Reliever Jake Smith (1-0) followed Costeiu with 1.1 scoreless innings, working around a couple of hits to keep the Hops off the board.

Tri-City broke the ice in the bottom of the 3rd, beginning with a Ketchup double down the left field line. DH Kevin Bruggeman followed by sending a pitch from Hillsboro starter Avery Short (0-3) to left for an RBI single that scored Ketchup for the first run of the night. 2B Ben Gobbel then came up, lining a single to score Bruggeman to double the lead to 2-0.

Runs in the 6th and 7th inning stretched the lead for the Dust Devils while lefty Erik Rivera continue his team's shutout bid by throwing three scoreless, no-hit innings with four strikeouts. Gobbel reached via error in the 6th, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a double to left-center by RF Jadiel Sanchez to move the Tri-City edge to 3-0. Ketchup's 7th inning longball, his third of the season, stretched the lead to 4-0 through seven innings.

The home nine would not cruise to victory, though, with a two-run homer by Hops LF Jack Hurley cutting the lead in half in the top of the 8th and a continued threat putting two runners in scoring position. Hurley then kept Hillsboro alive in the 9th with an RBI single to left, driving in all three runs for the visitors, but Cam Minacci struck out Hops 1B Neyfy Castillo to end the game.

Caleb Ketchup went 2-for-4 with two extra base hits, an RBI, and two runs scored. Ben Gobbel also went 2-for-4, extending his ongoing hitting (six games), scoring (eight games), and on-base (ten games) streaks to help the Dust Devils get within three games of .500.

Tri-City, playing as the Columbia River Rooster Tails, and Hillsboro gather for game four of their six-game set at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Gesa Stadium, where it will be School Night presented by Pahlisch Homes and a Family Feast Night presented by Yoke's Fresh Market. As usual, fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs, 12 oz. Coca-Cola products, ice cream sandwiches, chips and Laffy Taffy ropes all throughout the game.

Dust Devils right-hander Joel Hurtado (2-3, 6.47 ERA) will look to bring his record even with a third win. Another righty, Roman Angelo (2-1, 3.60 ERA at Single-A Visalia), will get the start for the Hops. Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m, both here and with video coverage in the MiLB Zone of the Bally Live app and MiLB.tv.

Tickets for the Hillsboro series 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 the team's official ticketing site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.

Check out the Tri-City Dust Devils Statistics




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Tri-City Dust Devils' Ryan Costeiu on the mound
Tri-City Dust Devils' Ryan Costeiu on the mound
   

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