Oh, what could’ve been.
After opening their home series with Vancouver with three straight wins, the Hops blew a golden opportunity to make up ground in the Northwest League standings by dropping the final three en route to a series split with the visiting Canadians.
It was a series defined mostly by pitching, with Hillsboro accruing a 1.96 ERA, while Vancouver pitched to a 2.42 ERA over six games.
Hops starters allowed just six total runs in the series, with four coming against Roman Angelo.
Spencer Giesting, Avery Short and Joe Elbis combined to allow no earned runs on just seven hits, while striking out 27 in 22 innings over the series’ first three games.
Unfortunately, the Hillsboro bats didn’t join in the fun, with the team batting just .222 with zero home runs and just 13 RBI in the series.
The Hops remain two games under .500 for the season and trail first place Spokane by 4.5 games in the league standings, with second place Eugene coming to Hillsboro for six games this week, beginning at 6:35 p.m. on May 28, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
Organizational news and notes…Former Hop Deyvison De Los Santos was promoted to Triple-A Reno on May 21, after batting .372 with 14 home runs and 37 RBI in 38 games in Double-A Amarillo…Vasalia pitcher Hayden Durke has struck out 35 in just 21 innings pitched in relief this season…Amarillo’s Yilber Diaz allowed just two hits while striking out eight in six shutout innings this past week. Diaz has a 3.23 ERA with 70 strikeouts in nine games this season…Reno’s Slade Cecconi allowed no earned runs and struck out nine in seven innings pitched in his first appearance since being sent down from the Diamondbacks on May 22…Christian Walker hit .350 with two home runs in five games this past week for Arizona…Former Hop and Oregon Duck Ryne Nelson threw five innings in a start this past week, allowing no runs on five hits while striking out five.
May 21 — Hillsboro 4, Vancouver 0
A good pitcher is tough to beat and that’s exactly what the Hops had in a 4-0 win over Vancouver on Tuesday, May 21, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
Hillsboro starting pitcher Joe Elbis dazzled, again, allowing just three hits while striking out six in 7.1 shutout innings.
The 21-year-old righthander has allowed 11 hits and no runs in his last three starts, while striking out 15 and walking just two. Elbis has also allowed just a single run in his last four starts over a 24-inning stretch.
Hillsboro relievers, Kyle Amendt and Listher Sosa, held things down for Elbis over the final 1.3 innings, striking out four of the six batters they faced.
Offensively, the Hops (19-20) got a run in the opening inning and two more in the second before adding a final run in the seventh.
Andrew Pintar and Manuel Pena led Hillsboro with two hits apiece, while Jack Hurley, Gavin Conticello, Christian Cerda and Manuel Pena all tallied RBI in the game.
Vancouver (16-20) starter Pat Gallagher lasted only 3.2 innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits.
May 22 — Hillsboro 5, Vancouver 3
For the second consecutive night, the Hops rode the hot hand of their starting pitcher, this time to the tune of a 5-3 win over Vancouver on Wednesday night, May 22, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
Like Joe Elbis a night prior, Spencer Giesting proved to be nearly unhittable, allowing three hits while striking out 13 in seven shutout innings.
The 22-year-old has allowed just three runs in 41 innings this season, earning an ERA of 0.66.
Hillsboro got three runs in the second inning, another in the third, then a final one in the eighth after the Canadians had pulled within 4-3 after plating three runs of their own off of Hops reliever Peniel Otano.
Jack Hurley, Gavin Conticello, Christian Cerda and Manuel Pena all had two hits for the Hops, with all but Conticello tallying an RBI, along with Juan Corniel who was 1-for-4 with an RBI.
With the win, Hillsboro got back to .500 on the season is just three games behind first place Eugene in the Northwest League standings.
May 23—Hillsboro 2, Vancouver 0
The hits keep coming for the Hops. Well, actually it’s the pitching.
Despite managing just three hits in the game, Hillsboro again leaned heavily on their arms en route to a 2-0 and third straight win over Vancouver on Thursday, May 23, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
Hops pitchers allowed just a single hit in the game, led by starter Avery Short who pitched 7.2 shutout innings, allowing that hit while striking out eight and walking one.
It was the third straight game in which Hillsboro (21-20) dominated from the mound, with the team’s three starters having allowed just seven combined hits and no runs, while striking out 27 and walking three in 22 innings.
Short has allowed just three earned runs in his last 21 innings.
Offensively, Hillsboro got a run in the first and another in the seventh, and got hits from Andrew Pintar, Gavin Conticello and Juan Corniel.
Conticello drove in Pintar with the game’s first run, while Gavin Logan plated Neyfy Castillo with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Ryan Jennings started the game on the mound for the Canadians (16-22) and too was impressive, allowing just a single earned run on three hits, while striking out six.
May 24 — Vancouver 4, Hillsboro 2
The streak’s over.
After three consecutive wins against the Vancouver, and three dominant pitching performances, the tide turned Friday night as the visiting Canadians defeated the Hops 4-2 on May 24, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
Vancouver (17-22) scored three runs in the first inning and another in the second, then held on as the Hops’ attempt to chip away at the lead fell short.
Hillsboro cut the lead to 4-1 in the third inning when Gavin Conticello doubled home Andrew Pintar, then tallied second run in the on a wild pitch by the Canadians’ Chris McElvain. But that was all the Hops could muster despite outhitting the visitors 9-7.
Hillsboro (21-21) left nine runners on base in the game.
Roman Angelo took the loss for the Hops, allowing four earned runs on six hits, while striking out seven and walking two.
McElvain got the win over Vancouver, going five innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits.
Offensively, the Canadians’ Ryan McCarty was 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI.
Conticello led the way for the Hops, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and run-scored.
May 25 — Vancouver 2, Hillsboro 1
Ricardo Yan was good, but not good enough in what amounted to a 2-1 Vancouver win over the Hops on Saturday afternoon, May 25, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
The 21-year-old starting pitcher allowed just two hits while striking out eight in his 5.1 innings of work, but walked four—including one with the bases loaded in the first inning—in a losing effort to the visiting Canadians.
Vancouver pushed across a run in the top of the 10th inning on a one-out fielder’s choice, then saw a failed Hops bunt attempt and consecutive strikeouts end Hillsboro’s bid for a fourth-win-in-five-games and series-clinching victory.
Instead, the Canadians will have an opportunity to force a series split when the two teams face off at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, at Hillsboro Ballpark.
The Hops’ only run came on a Jose Fernandez RBI-single in the fifth inning.
Hillsboro managed just five hits in the game, all of which came off of Vancouver starter Rafael Sanchez who pitched six innings, allowing one earned run while striking out six and walking none.
May 26 — Vancouver 5, Hillsboro 1
After winning the first three games of the series, including two shutout wins, the Hops fell in their third consecutive game to the Canadians despite another great starting pitching performance from Logan Clayton.
Clatyon allowed just one earned run in 6.1 innings of work.
The 24-year-old righthander was still on the mound in the seventh inning in a 0-0 game when he ran into trouble. Jackson Hornung singled and Jamari Baylor walked to put two runners on with one out, then Jeff Wehler hit an RBI double which was followed by a Christian Cerda throwing error that led to a 2-0 Vancouver lead.
Hillsboro scored a run of their own in their half of the seventh, but the Canadians opened things up with three runs in the top of the ninth to put the game away.
Hornung and Wehler each had two hits for the C’s, while Kevin Sim had two hits for the Hops.
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