Northwest League -- Bears, Emeralds going their separate ways

YAKIMA -- Once upon a time not that long ago in a city not so far away, a Northwest League team was struggling.

The Eugene Emeralds had lost eight in a row, were 7-23 overall and in need of someone or something to turn them around.

And they got them.

"We got more players," manager Greg Riddoch said Friday night, after his overhauled Ems had run over the Bears, 9-3, for their fifth straight win. "Other teams had all or most of their top 10 draft picks and we only had two. Now we've got five, I think, and we've got another guy coming in tomorrow, although I'm not sure if he's a top 10 pick."

Yakima? If there is to be a reversal of a season in which the Bears ranked dead last halfway through at 13-25, it most likely will have to come from within.

And if history is an indication, prospects for such improvement aren't good.

En route to its third straight loss and eighth in nine games, before an announced crowd of 2,033 at Yakima County Stadium, the Bears managed only two hits.

Over the final six innings, in fact, Yakima produced but one baserunner -- Ariel Urena with a leadoff walk in the eighth, and he was erased on a double play.

"There's not much happening," Bears manager Bob Didier said. "Harrington (starting pitcher Ian) wasn't sharp and our defense wasn't sharp. And I don't know how many games you can win with two hits."

Despite the offensive inefficiency, which has been especially acute since Collin Cowgill's promotion to South Bend 17 games ago (Yakima is 4-13 in his absence), Yakima combined both of its hits along with two walks for a 3-3 tie through three innings.

Singles by Alfredo Marte and Anthony Smith drove in the first two runs, and Marte then scored from third on a double steal.

But Eugene (17-21) scored twice in the top of the fourth off Harrington (1-4), added another in the fifth and three more in the eighth.

The Emeralds totaled
14 hits, led by Blake Tekotte's three, and had four players with two each. Among them was Dan Robertson, who hiked his league-leading batting average to .371.

Tekotte, a center-fielder, was a third-round draftee by the San Diego Padres, Eugene's big-league affiliate. He came from Miami while Robertson, a left-fielder, was a 33rd-rounder from Oregon State.

Robertson, Tekotte and Sawyer Carroll -- the latter a former teammate of Cowgill at Kentucky and a third-round pick -- drove in two runs apiece.

Starter Tyson Bagley departed after four innings, after which Erik Davis, Kyle Heyne and Gary Poynter faced only 15 hitters over the final five innings.

"We're taking early BP (batting practice) tomorrow," Didier said. "We're going to hit, hit, hit -- work hard, play hard and that's all we can really do."

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