C's take three out of five from Hops

Hillsboro Series, July 31-August 4, 2013

The Canadians, with a 4-4 record to open the second half, returned home to take on the Hillsboro Hops expecting to return to form against a struggling team that had gone 11-27 in the first half (including 4-15 on the road).

Incredibly, the Hops took the first two games in Vancouver, winning 7-1 and 4-3, as the Canadians saw their second-half record drop to 4-6. The opening contest was particularly heart-breaking for Vancouver, as the C's committed four errors which led to three unearned runs, wasting a strong effort by LHP Alonzo Gonzalez (normally a reliever) in his first start for Vancouver. Gonzalez gave up a run on three walks but did not allow a hit. Three of the C's four errors on the night came in the fifth inning, as Hillsboro took advantage of all of the miscues and scored three runs to break open what had been a 3-1 game.

After dropping the first two contests, the C's looked to have an easy win on August 2, scoring four runs in the first inning off Braden Shipley. The C's increased the lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the third, knocking the right-hander out after just 2.2 innings. Though the Hops scored three runs off Jeremy Gabryszwski in his six innings of work, the C's still were in control as they added two more runs in the bottom half of the sixth to take a commanding 8-3 lead. The score stayed that way until the top of the ninth inning, and the C's were juts three outs away from victory. Alas, in the top of the ninth, Chuck Ghysels loaded the bases with none out on a walk, single, and error by 1B Justin Atkinson. A bases-loaded walk to SS Ryan Gebhardt (the Hops' No. 9 hitter) followed, cutting the deficit to 8-4.

Ghysels bounced back and struck out the next two batters, and the C's were one out away from winning. Alas, 1B George Roberts smacked a bases-clearing double, and it was suddenly 8-7. 3B Cesar Carrasco hit a groundball to shortstop that looked like it would end the game, but SS Christian Vazquez booted it, allowing Roberts to score to tie the game.

The game went into extra innings, where Vazquez went from goat to hero as he singled to left field with David Harris on second base, giving the C's a thrilling walk-off 9-8 victory. It was Vazquez's first hit of the afternoon after he'd gone 0-for-4 in his first four at-bats.

The Canadians would not be denied the rest of the series, winning 8-2 and 4-0 in the final two games to take the series 3-2. In the 8-2 contest, Ladner BC's Tom Robson (1-0, 0.77) made his second start for the C's and won his first game, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts in six innings. Then it was Drayton AB's Shane Dawson (1-0, 0.00) who got in the act, pitching five shutout innings with no walks and nine strikeouts, allowing four hits, in the series finale.

The 3-2 homestand allowed the C's to improve to 7-6 in the second half, with the Northwest League All-Star Game set to take place on August 6 in Everett.