It was a classic baseball scenario — bottom of the ninth, two outs, tie game — and Jacen Roberson delivered the heroics to give the Hillsboro Hops their sixth consecutive win.
Roberson went deep with a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw, sending the Hops to a 6-4 walk-off victory against the Everett AquaSox on Friday night in front of 1,565 at Ron Tonkin Field.
Everett starter Juan Mercedes was giving the Hops fits in the early going, fooling hitters with his curveball en route to seven strikeouts across four innings. But in the third inning the Hops (6-1) pulled off a double steal that scored Wilderd Patino and put Hillsboro up 1-0.
Hillsboro’s Spencer Giesting was effective early as well, keeping the AquaSox (1-5) off the board until the fourth when Tyler Locklear doubled to drive in Alberto Rodriguez and make it 1-1.
In the fifth, Everett reliever Sam Carlson hit two batters and walked another to load the bases with one out. Hillsboro capitalized on Jesus Valdez’s RBI double and then Roberson’s sacrifice fly that scored J.J. D’Orazio. After a pitching change, Joshua Day singled off Luis Curvelo to score Jonathan Guzman and the Hops went up 4-1.
Everett rallied for two runs in the sixth before tying it at 4-4 in the eighth on Hogan Windish’s solo homer to left off Hugh Fisher.
After the AquaSox got runners on first and third with no outs in the ninth, the Hops turned to Gerald Ogando to replace Fisher. Everett’s Blake Rombusch then stole second to further jam up the right-hander. But Ogando (1-0) escaped with no damage, getting a strikeout before intentionally walking Harry Ford, and then a flyout before Locklear went down swinging.
In the bottom of the ninth, Everett’s Logan Rinehart walked Guzman with one out and then got Valdez to fly out to set the stage for Roberson.
It was Hillsboro’s 50th walk-off win in club history, and the Hops’ first walk-off homer since Andy Yerzy’s three-run homer in the 2019 playoffs.
Kevin Graham went 2 for 5 for the Hops, while J.J. D’Orazio had a hit and three walks. Windish went 3 for 4 for Everett.
Next up: The Hops and AquaSox play the fifth game of their six-game series at 4:05 p.m. Saturday in Hillsboro (Rip City Radio KPOJ 620).
