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The Hillsboro Hops cruised through the Northwest League playoffs with four consecutive victories and captured the Northwest League title Sunday with a 4-3 win over Vancouver. In other playoff action Mobile had their must-win game suspended due to rain in the 5th inning trailing 4-1. They'll need a serious comeback if they're to avoid elimination. Visalia won game two of their best-of-five series against Bakersfield and lead that series 2-0 with the next two games at home. A win in either game will send them to the championship series.
Snake Stars
3 Stars: Kevin Medrano, Visalia 2 for 4, 1 BB, 1 DBL, 3 RBI
2 Stars: Felipe Perez, Hillsboro 5 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 ER, W (1-0)
1 Star: Zac Curtis, Hillsboro 1 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 0 ER, Sv (4)
0 Stars: A.J. Schugel, Mobile 3.1 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 4 R, 3 ER
AA: Mobile 1 Jacksonville 4. Suspended in the top of the 5th.
A+: Visalia 7 @ Bakersfield 5. The starting pitching wasn't very good as Spencer Arroyo got tagged for 5 runs in less than 4 innings on 6 hits and 4 walks. But the Rawhide brushed that aside with more potent offense. Saturday it was the long ball but Sunday it was mostly small ball. They racked up 13 hits with 10 of them singles. A 3-run outburst in the 4th and another in the 6th was the difference. The Visalia manager used 6 relief pitchers to piece together the rest of the game and they did the job without allowing any runs. The offense was led by Kevin Medrano who drove in 3 runs on 2 hits and Andrew Velazquez who doubled and walked and drove in 2. Breland Almadova had 3 hits and scored twice while Alex Glenn and Socrates Brito chipped in with a couple of hits each.
A-: Hillsboro 4 Vancouver 3. The Hops jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after 2 innings and held on for a tight 4-3 win. Felipe Perez was solid pitching into the 6th inning allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. Luis Ramirez had a clean 8th inning holding onto the slim lead and Zac Curtis closed it out in the 9th on a walk, a strikeout and 2 comebackers that got the celebration started. Curtis pitched in and saved all 4 post-season games. The key offense came from a bases-loaded, ground-rule double by Jordan Parr in the 1st inning. Grant Heyman had a pair of doubles and scored a run while Nate Robertson added 2 hits with a double.