PASCO – DH Ryan Nicholson’s RBI single in the bottom of the 7th inning broke a late tie and provided the winning margin Thursday night, giving the Tri-City Dust Devils (19-17) a 2-1 win over the Eugene Emeralds at Gesa Stadium for the home nine’s first win of the week.
Neither team scored in the first two innings, and Tri-City would strike first in the bottom of the 3rd. 3B Jake Munroe drew a one-out walk to get aboard, and RF Randy De Jesus later extended the inning with a two-out walk of his own. That brought up C Juan Flores, who sent a hard liner into the gap in left-center that scored Munroe for a 1-0 lead.
Dust Devils starter Jake Snead, coming off six perfect innings last week in Spokane that earned him Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honors, put up a 1-2-3 1st before fending off Eugene in a three-hit top of the 2nd. The league leaders would get on the board in the 5th, though, when RF Trevor Cohen grounded an RBI single through the left side to tie the game at 1-1. Snead went six innings for a second straight outing, walking none and striking out six just as he did last week. This time, though, the righty got the first no-decision of his professional career.
What became the winning run started with a leadoff infield single by 1B Caleb Bartolero, who got a grounder deep enough into the hole at short to reach base without a throw. A wild pitch moved him to second, and a walk drawn by CF Gage Harrelson put two on with no one out. Munroe laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Bartolero to third and Harrelson to second. Nicholson then scorched a pitch from Emeralds reliever Cade Vernon (5-1) through a drawn-in left side of the infield to score Bartolero for the 2-1 lead.
Reliever Nick Jones (1-1) covered the 7th and 8th innings, giving up only one hit and striking out three. Benny Thompson finished the game by getting the final three outs, allowing a hit but stranding the runner for his first save of the year.
SCHOOL’S OUT…TO THE BALLGAME!
Tri-City and Eugene square off in game four of their six-game series at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Gesa Stadium. Right-hander Peyton Olejnik (1-3, 5.28 ERA) goes to the mound for the Dust Devils, countered by right-hander Yunior Marte (4-0, 2.25 ERA) of the Emeralds.
It’s both the annual School Night, presented by Pahlisch Homes, and also a Family Feast Night presented by Tri-Cities Airport. Hot dogs, 16 oz. Coca-Cola products, bags of chips and ice cream sandwiches will each be available for $2.50 throughout the night.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin at 6:10 p.m. with the Dust Devils Pregame Show. Fans can also watch the games for free on Bally Sports Live, and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
For tickets for the Eugene series, as well as all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.