EUGENE, OR – A two-homer game from#26 Blue Jays prospect Jake Casey highlighted a relentless offensive attack for the Canadians in a 10-5 win over the Eugene Emeralds (SF) Tuesday night at PK Park. With the win, the C’s are now alone in first place with 17 games remaining this year.
Before Casey’s initial blast, it was Maddox Latta leaving the ballpark for the first Vancouver big fly of the night. After the C’s scored the game’s first run on a two-out error, Latta cracked a three-run shot against #9 Giant prospect Jacob Bresnahan (L, 6-3) to make it 4-0 Vancouver.
Starter Landen Maroudis (W, 3-9) held the Ems scoreless for the first two innings before a two-out, three-run shot in the third brought Eugene within a single score. That proved to be the only runs Maroudis would allow; he went five innings, scattered three hits, walked three and K’ed six as his strong second half continued.
Vancouver remained in front by a run until the fifth. That was when Casey uncorked his first bomb, a first pitch solo shot to start the inning. Latta would double with two outs later in the stanza then Max Viera drove him in with a single that put the C’s ahead 6-3.
Casey would go deep in his next at-bat. After JoJo Parker worked a two-out walk, the Pittsburgh, PA native fell behind 0-2, took a ball then slugged a deep drive to right field that increased the lead to five. It’s the second time in his career that Casey has homered twice in one game.
Two more C’s runs scored in the eighth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Casey for his fourth RBI of the night and a two-out double by Ryan Sprock before Eugene answered with two of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Leading 10-5, the Canadians send Carson Myers to the mound in the ninth. The left worked around a one-out single by striking out the final two batters of the game to secure the win.
With the victory, Vancouver now has a half game lead over Eugene for first place in the second half and a multi-game cushion over their closest challenger for the chance to take on the first half champion Emeralds in the Northwest League Championship Series next month.
The series continues tomorrow night. Silvano Hechavarria opposes #5 Giants prospect Ramon Marquez. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. on the C’s Broadcast Network.
For tickets and more information throughout the 75th anniversary season of The Nat, visit CanadiansBaseball.com, call 604-872-5232 and follow the C’s on social via @vancanadians.