Crazy eights lead to Emeralds win.

Byline: Steve Mims The Register-Guard

Just what word best described the eighth inning?

"It was eventful," Eugene reliever David O'Hagan said.

It was that, and more.

"That was a crazy eighth inning," third baseman Lachlan Dale said. "They go up and we fought back."

Vancouver scored twice without a hit in the top of the eighth inning to take a 4-3 lead as it appeared the Ems were self-destructing with two errors and a wild pitch, but Eugene rallied with three runs thanks to a couple of Vancouver miscues in the bottom of the inning for a 6-4 win over the Canadians in front of 3,141 Saturday evening at Civic Stadium.

"It was fun to be part of that," said O'Hagan, who earned his first professional victory. "Obviously we are out of the playoff race but it says a lot about our guys that we played hard until the end. I'm sure a lot of people had given up on us."

Eugene took a 3-2 lead on a two-run home run by Billy Hogan in the bottom of the seventh, but then weird things started to happen in the penultimate game of the season.

Two Eugene pitchers combined to strike out four batter in the eighth, but two errors and a wild pitch gave the Canadians six outs in the inning.

Nicolas Blasi opened the inning with a grounder that second baseman Jodam Rivera booted for an error. Reliever Gary Gallegos struck out Kurt Suzuki for the first out of the inning before O'Hagan was called out of the bullpen to face Javier Herrera, who leads the league with a .345 batting average.

O'Hagan struck out Herrera, but a wild pitch on the third strike allowed Herrera to reach first base. Richie Robnett struck out for the second out.

Myron Leslie followed with a high fly ball that third baseman Trino Aguilar dropped as Blasi and Herrera rounded the bases to give the Canadians a 4-3 lead.

O'Hagan struck out Landon Powell - the fourth strikeout of the inning - to end the eighth.

"The eighth inning was a disaster," Eugene manager Roy Howell said. "A leadoff error, strike three on the best hitter in the league goes to the backstop, and then we drop a pop-up that should be caught every time."

Vancouver reliever Shawn Martinez walked Rivera to open the bottom of the eighth, then hit Brett Burnham with a pitch. Colt Morton grounded out on a play that advanced the runners to second and third before reliever Scot Drucker got Yordany Ramirez to ground back to the mound for the second out.

Dale stepped up to the plate and watched as Drucker threw a wild pitch that allowed Rivera to score the tying run.

"That was a nice and easy run," Dale said.

Dale then hit a liner past first base for a single that drove in Burnham to give the Ems a 5-4 lead.

"I was looking for something off-speed and he threw a fastball and jammed me," Dale said. "I got lucky. I was just trying to hit it, put the ball in play."

Aguilar followed with a slow roller to third base that Leslie fielded before making a wild throw to first base that rolled near the Eugene bullpen as Dale scooted around the bases to score the final run of a bizarre inning.

"In most situations where a team does what Vancouver did to go ahead with two innings left, it is tough to come back because you know you are likely to face their closer, but we kept battling," Howell said. "That's how it is, you never know what is going to happen."

Vancouver threatened again in the top of the ninth and had runners on first and third when Brandon Kintzler struck out Herrera to record his third save in the last eight days.

The Canadians missed out on another opportunity to clinch the Northwest League West Division title. Vancouver (41-34) has a one-game lead over Everett (40-35) heading into the season finale this afternoon, and the Canadians must win or have Everett lose in Salem-Keizer to win the division title because the AquaSox hold the tiebreaker.

Meanwhile, the Ems are on a bit of a roll as they have won six of their last eight games to improve to 26-49. The Ems could win three in a row for the first time all season if they win their finale this afternoon against the Canadians.

"It would be nice to chase that down," Dale said.

But for one crazy night, the Ems were satisfied that they overcame four errors and found a way to win the type of game that has slipped away from them for most of this frustrating season.

"You can look back at the whole year now and say 'That's one for us,' " Howell said.

Note: Clayton Hamilton (1-1, 5.96 ERA) will get the start this afternoon at 2 p.m. ... Eugene reliever Ricky Steik was loaned to Portland, San Diego's AAA affiliate, to pitch one game but the right-hander is expected to rejoin the Ems today.

LOOKING BACK AT THE EMS

Sept. 5, 2000: Eugene defeated Portland 16-3 to clinch the Southern Division title in front of 2,931 at Civic Stadium. The Ems went on to lose the league championship series to Yakima in five games.

VANCOUVER EUGENE

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Blasi lf 5 2 1 0 Vincent rf 4 0 0 0

Suzuki c 5 0 3 1 Rivera 2b 3 1 0 0

Herrera cf 5 1 0 0 Burnham dh 3 1 1 0

Robnett rf 4 1 1 0 Morton c 4 0 1 0

Leslie 3b 2 0 0 1 Ramirez cf 4 0 0 0

Powell dh 3 0 0 0 Dale 1b 3 3 2 1

Everidge 1b 4 0 0 0 Aguilar 3b 3 0 2 0

Ruiz 2b 4 0 0 0 Bush ss 4 0 2 1

Petit ss 4 0 1 0 Hogan lf 3 1 2 2

Johnson lf 0 0 0 0

Totals 36 4 6 4 Totals 31 6 9 4

Vancouver... 000 101 020 - 4

Eugene... 010 000 23x - 6

E-Leslie, Rivera 2, Aguilar, Delabar. DP-Vancouver 1. LOB-Vancouver 8, Eugene 5. 2B-Blasi, Suzuki, Bush. 3B-Robnett. HR-Hogan (3). S-Aguilar. SF-Leslie. SB-Herrera.

IP H R ER BB SO

Vancouver

Ford 7 7 3 3 1 6

Martinez L,1-4 0 0 2 2 1 0

Drucker 1 2 1 0 0 1

Eugene

Delabar 5 4 2 2 1 6

Cespedes 2 0 0 0 0 4

Gallegos 1-3 0 1 0 0 1

O'Hagan W,1-0 2-3 0 1 0 1 3

Kintzler S,3 1 2 0 0 0 2

Martinez pitched to 2 batters in the 8th. HBP-by Martinez (Burnham). WP-Ford, Drucker, Gallegos, O'Hagan. T-2:40. A-3,141.