For the third straight week, the Hops appeared poised to make serious strides in the NWL standings, but instead negated a fast start with a clunky finish to split with their weekly foe, in this case first place Spokane.
After taking the first two games of their six-game set, Hillsboro managed to win just one of the final four and failed to gain any ground on the league-leading Indians.
The Hops saw their bats come alive over the week-long series of games, but were done-in in part by their pitching which has been phenomenal for the bulk of the season.
The team as a whole batted .265 for the week, up from a season total of .227. But their pitching struggled to a 6.23 ERA against Spokane, way up from their 3.26 mark on the year.
They did however get strong starts from Roman Angelo and Joe Elbis on the mound, and saw strong performances from Andrew Pintar (.458), Jack Hurley (.350) and Gavin Conticello at the plate, the latter of which hit .375 with a home run and eight RBI in six games.
With the series split, Hillsboro dropped to fourth in the NWL, four games behind first place Spokane.
Hillsboro will host Tri-City for six games this week.
Organizational news and notes…Andrew Pintar is batting .337 with 16 RBI over his last 30 games…Joe Elbis has an ERA of 0.66 with 24 strikeouts over his last four starts…Deyvison De Los Santos hit .409 with two home runs in six games in Reno this past week. The 20-year-old is hitting .329 with three home runs and 14 RBI in 18 games at Triple-A…Former Hop and top prospect Kristian Robinson continues to struggle, hitting just .179 over 35 games at Double-A Amarillo…Catcher Caleb Roberts has three home runs and 10 RBI over his last 11 games at Amarillo…Billy Corcoran continues to impress since being called up from Hillsboro, allowing three runs on just six hits, in 18 innings pitched at Amarillo…first baseman Jackson Felter hit .450 with a home run and five RBI in five games for Visalia this past week…Former Hop Pavin Smith hit two home runs for the Diamondbacks this past week…2023 N.L. Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll continues to struggle this season, hitting just .204 through 64 games.
Below is a recap of last week’s Hops games:
June 4 — Hillsboro 8, Spokane 6
For the sixth time in seven tries, the Hops defeated league-leading Spokane, this time defeating the home Indians 8-6 in the first game of their six-game series on Tuesday, June 4, at Avista Stadium in Spokane.
With the win, Hillsboro (25-25) pulled within three games of the Indians in the Northwest League standings.
Andrew Pintar’s bases-clearing double in the eighth inning opened the game up for the Hops.
Pintar was 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run-scored in the game, and is now 5-for-8 with 10 RBI with the bases loaded this season.
Former Oregon State star Gavin Logan was 3-for-3 in the game, while Pintar, Gavin Conticello and Manuel Pena all tallied two hits.
Pitcher Logan Clayton got the start and earned the win for Hillsboro, giving up three earned runs on seven hits, while striking out three in six innings of work.
Victor Juarez took the loss for Spokane (27-21), allowing three earned runs in 5.1 innings.
The Hops trailed 2-0 after three innings but rallied to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning.
The two teams traded a run apiece in the sixth inning before Pintar’s bases-clearing double sparked a four-run eighth inning.
Spokane responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the eighth, but were put down in the ninth despite putting two runners on base with just a single out.
June 5 — Hillsboro 11, Spokane 2
It was a barrage of hits for the Hops Wednesday night, leading to a second straight win over first place Spokane, 11-2, on June 5, at Avista Stadium.
Hillsboro (26-25) tallied 17 hits, 10 extra-base hits, and eight doubles, all season highs.
Gavin Conticello led the charge for the Hops, going 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs-scored, consisting of a triple and home run—his fifth of the season.
Jose Fernandez, Andrew Pintar and Chrisitan Cerda all had three hits in the game, and combined to go 9-for15 with a pair of RBI and five runs-scored.
In all, eight Hops tallied hits, with six of those recording multiple hits.
Not to be forgotten, starting pitcher Joe Elbis continued his run of greatness, allowing a single earned run while striking out five in 7.2 innings of work, lowering his season ERA to 1.80.
Elbis has allowed just four earned runs in his last six starts, over a combined 38.1 innings.
Spokane (27-22) was led by Juan Guerrero who went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run-scored.
Indians starter Mason Green took the loss, allowing five earned runs on seven hits in four innings of work.
With the win, Hillsboro pulled to within two games of Spokane in the NWL standings.
June 6 — Spokane 9, Hillsboro 4
After consecutive losses to open the series with Hillsboro, Spokane bit back in Game 3, defeating the Hops 9-4 on Thursday, June 6, at Avista Stadium in Spokane.
The home Indians scored eight runs over the game’s final four innings, including six runs in the pivotal sixth inning en route to the win.
Spokane’s Juan Guerrero and Kyle Karros combined to go 7-for-9 with four RBI and a run-scored to lead an Indians attack that tallied 15 hits, boasting five players with two hits or more.
Hillsboro starting pitcher Spencer Giesting impressed early, but allowed four of Spokane’s six sixth inning runs without recording an out, leaving the game having allowed five earned runs on nine hits in five innings of work.
Offensively, the Hops were led by Jack Hurley who was 2-for-4 with a home run, RBI and two runs-scored.
Sean Sullivan got the win for Spokane, with the former Wake Forest standout--the Rockies' second pick in the 2023 draft--striking out eight Hops and walking one, allowing four hits and three runs over six innings.
June 7 — Spokane 8, Hillsboro 1
Just like that, the series is even.
After capturing the first two games of their six-game series with Spokane, the Hops have dropped two straight after an 8-1 loss to the Indians on Friday night, June 7, at Avista Stadium.
Hillsboro starting pitcher Avery Short had one of his few bad outings of the season, allowing five earned runs on five hits in four innings of work.
Spokane got a run in the opening inning and three more in the third off of Short, then tallied another in the fifth, two more in the sixth, and a final run in the seventh en route to a seven-run home victory.
The Indians were led by Kyle Karros and Cole Carrigg who combined to go 5-for-8 with two home runs, three RBI and three runs-scored.
All but one Spokane starters had a hit in the game, with three notching multiple hits.
Indians starting pitcher Chase Dollander had his way with Hops hitters, allowing no earned runs on five hits, while striking out eight and walking just one.
Offensively, Hillsboro’s Andrew Pintar and Kevin Sim each had two hits.
June 8 — Hillsboro 9, Spokane 6
An inning after blowing a four-run lead, Hillsboro made right in a 9-6 win over Spokane on Saturday, June 8, at Avista Stadium.
Jake Snider’s two-out grand slam in the ninth sent the game to extra innings, but the Hops responded with four runs of their own an inning later, getting the go-ahead hit from Andrew Pintar and later what would amount to the game-winner on a sacrifice fly to center from Christian Cerda.
Pintar finished the game 2-for-4 with his league-leading eighth home run, two RBI and three runs-scored.
In all, six Hops had multiple hits in the game, totally 13 combined hits in the win over the home Indians.
Hillsboro starting pitcher Roman Angelo was brilliant in just his fourth start in a Hops uniform after being called up from Visalia, allowing just three hits while striking out seven in six shutout innings.
June 9 — Spokane 8, Hillsboro 0
No ground gained.
Despite winning the series’ first two games and three-of-the-first-five, the Hops failed to gain any ground on first place Spokane after losing the series finale 8-0 on Sunday, June 9, at Avista Stadium in Spokane.
Second-year pro Connor Staine stymied the Hops, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out a career-high nine batters in seven shutout innings.
With the win, the Tribe (30-23) salvaged a series split and regained a four-game lead over the Hops in the NWL standings with nine games left before the first-half cutoff.
Cole Carrigg stayed hot for Spokane, going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, while Kyle Karros added two RBI with an eighth inning double to push his league-leading total to 38.
The Hops tallied just four hits in the game.
Hillsboro starting pitcher Logan Clayton struggled, walking seven and allowing five earned runs in 4.2 innings.
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