EUGENE, OREGON (May 19, 2026) --- Hops left-hander Rio Britton looked right at home in his return to P.K. Park. The former Oregon Duck had his finest outing as a professional on Tuesday night in Eugene, tossing six shutout innings. He left with a 1-0 lead, but the Eugene Emeralds scored twice in the top of the seventh against Hops reliever Sandro Santana to beat Hillsboro 2-1.
Britton, who pitched for the University of Oregon his first two years before transferring to NC State, was making his first appearance at P.K. Park since his sophomore year in 2022. His command was superb. He allowed just three hits --- all singles --- and struck out six. In just his third start of the season (and only the fourth of his career in 43 appearances), he didn’t walk a batter. In fact, he faced 21 hitters, and went to two balls in the count only three times.
The Hops snapped a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth when Slade Caldwell singled for the second time. One out later, Yassel Soler reached base on a fielder’s choice, and Trent Youngblood singled to score Caldwell and make it 1-0.
Hillsboro had opportunities to widen the lead, but came up short each time. They left runners at the corners in the fourth and a runner at third in the fifth. In the sixth --- after putting two aboard with none out --- they stranded runners at second and third, and those were the final baserunners they would advance into scoring position.
Britton gave way to fellow lefty Santana to start the seventh, and he immediately ran into problems, walking the first batter he faced, Zander Darby. Jakob Christian singled to deep short on an 0-2 pitch, and Jean Carlos Sio pulled a single into right --- also on an 0-2 pitch --- to score Darby with the tying run. Lisbel Diaz flew out to right for the first out of the inning, and both runners moved up a base. Hillsboro brought the infield in, and Walker Martin grounded one to Hops second baseman Wallace Clark. Clark threw Christian out at the plate; the throw was high, but catcher Alberto Barriga jumped to catch it and landed right on the sliding Christian for the second out. Santana had a chance to get out of it, but the number-nine hitter, DH Onil Perez, squirted a ground ball through the right side to score Sio with the go-ahead run. It was 2-1 Eugene.
After Santana hit leadoff batter Trent Cohen to load the bases, he induced Dakota Jordan into an inning-ending groundout, then worked a 1-2-3 eighth. But the damage was done.
Ems starter Tyler Switalski was replaced by Niko Mazza in the fifth, and Mazza worked the final 4.2 innings to pick up the victory. Hillsboro had a one-out single from Modeifi Marte in the top of the ninth, but Clark flew out to left and pinch-hitter Yerald Nin struck out to end the game.
Eugene, at 31-9, has the best record among 120 minor-league clubs. The Hops fell to 16-24, and 1-9 against the Ems this year.
At just two hours and five minutes, the game matched the fastest for the Hops in 2026.
The series continues at 6:35 on Wednesday. Airtime from P.K. Park will be 6:20PM on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com.