EVERETT, Wash. -- The Everett AquaSox lead the Northwest League in home runs in 2026. They had the league's top slugger overall in Luis Suisbel last year and the first half's top slugger Lazaro Montes before he moved on to AA. This season, Josh Caron and Brandon Eike were neck-and-neck for the first half home run title with 11 each.
Yet, it was light-hitting Anthony Donofrio who delivered a walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth Saturday night to give the Frogs a 5-4 win over the Hillsboro Hops.
Donofrio came into the night with just two homers on the season and a batting average below the Mendoza line. His OPS was one of the lowest among NWL regulars, well below .600. But the curse of Freddie Funko struck Brian Curley and the Hops in the last of the ninth as the former North Carolina Tar Heel hit what would be a routine fly ball to right center in just about any professional ballpark from sea to shining sea, but at this mixed used high school facility just over the hill from Port Gardner Bay, 331 feet is all you need to get a Gatorade bath.
Donofrio followed a leadoff Austin St. Laurent single with his game-winning shot that just did creep over the hand-operated scoreboard in right, keeping the Hops from winning their second consecutive road series and fourth straight series overall.
It was a night of home runs as the Hops got on the board on a Yassel Soler two-run homer in the first off Everett starter Evan Truitt.
The AquaSox replied with a solo home run from burly designated hitter Matthew Ellis in the second--one Kentuckian against another, as Bowling Green native Patrick Forbes surrendered his first pro dinger to a fellow denizen of the Bluegrass State from Waddy in Shelby County.
The Hops' got another two-run jack, this time from red-hot Kenny Castillo in the fourth inning.
With Forbes gone after four innings and six strikeouts, Brian Curley fanned the side in the fifth and punched out Luke Stevenson to start the bottom of the sixth. But Felnin Celesten jumped on the first pitch and hit a rocket to the back of the right field berm to brind the AquaSox to within one.
Calvin Schapira and Lucas Kelly combined for ten strikeouts over four scoreless innings and Everett loaded the bases in the eighth against Curley, only for the flame-throwing Georgia Bulldog to fan three straight batters, getting Carlos Jimenez to chase a 3-2 slider in the dirt to give the Hops their third escape with multiple runners in scoring position and none out in the last two days. Catcher Carlos Virahonda deserves half credit, three times making difficult stops on pitches that appeared bound for the backstop to hold potential tying runner Jonny Farmelo at third.
Plagued by late-game mistakes throughout the week, it appeared to be a missed opportunity to start the ninth when St. Laurent hit a gapper to that right center field short porch, but changed his mind on the way to second. While retreating back to first the throw from center fielder Jakey Josepha bounced all the way through the infield to the pitcher Curley backing up the play on the third base line. St. Laurent would have easily had second.
But, four pitches later it was a moot issue. Donofrio had appeared overmatched in three previous at bats, fanning on three pitches twice against Forbes and going down swinging aginast Curley in the seventh. But he got just enough of a 2-2 Curley offering to give the Frogs their first second-half win.
Donofrio was not alone on this night. All three games in the Northwest League ended on walk-off two-run homers. Capri Ortiz sent the Tri-City Dust Devils home happy with a tater to center field in the ninth against Eugene's Matt Dunaway to hand the Emeralds their second consecutive walk-off loss, 3-2. Friday night it was the Dust Devils' Juan Flores that ended the game with a solo shot. And in Spokane, the league's hottest hitter, Jack O'Dowd blasted a two-run shot in the bottom of the tenth off Vancouver's Jay Schueler to cap a three-hit night and give the Indians a 9-8 win. It was the former Texas Longhorn's second round tripper of the night, giving him five RBI.
The Hops have one more shot at a series win Sunday when they wrap up the series at 4:05 p.m. Pregame airtime on Rip City Radio follows World Cup soccer at 4 p.m.