Cooper’s hot bat carries Emeralds past Indians
While some players in the Northwest League are feeling fatigued from the length of the season, Craig Cooper of the Eugene Emeralds has used it to his advantage.
The cleanup hitter credits the number of offensive repetitions he has seen so far for his .300 batting average, which ranks him seventh in the league.
Cooper went 2 for 4 with a double and four RBIs in the Ems’ 7-3 victory over the Spokane Indians in the middle game of the five-game Northwest League baseball series in front of 5,640 spectators on Saturday night.
“I’ve seen the pitchers more and this is the second time we played these guys so I’ve already seen them the first time around,” Cooper said of his consistent offense.
Cooper has had at least one RBI in each of the three games in the series and credits his teammates that hit in front of him. The Ems combined for 13 hits, including seven doubles.
While Cooper is putting up some big numbers, Spokane’s No. 3 hitter Chad Tracy and cleanup hitter Chris Davis have been struggling in the series. Tracy got his first hit Saturday in 11 at-bats and Davis has gone 1 for 10. Spokane manager Mike Micucci said fatigue plays a factor, but also said they have had to adjust to pitcher’s pitching differently to them since they are two of the best home run hitters in the league.
Eugene’s starting pitcher Stephen Faris restricted Spokane to four hits and two runs.
“He was a good pitcher and kept us off balance,” Micucci said. “We just couldn’t cash in.”
After the fifth inning Eugene had a 4-2 lead over Spokane, but the Ems cycled through the order to unload three more runs in the seventh off of Spokane’s second reliever Patrick Donovan.
Tom King opened the seventh inning with a single up the middle followed by a double from Matt Antonelli, his second of the night. Cooper came around and ripped a two-run single down the left-field line. Chad Huffman followed with a RBI double.
King is tied for second in the league with 16 doubles and Huffman has 15.
Designated hitter Billy Killian singled home a run in the bottom of the night to cap the scoring for Spokane.
Jeremiah Haar relieved Donovan in the seventh and more than doubled his season strikeout total with six strikeouts, including fanning the side in the eighth.
Spokane’s KC Herren went 3 for 4 with one RBI and put a runner in scoring position in the eighth but Eugene’s third double play of the night prevented a run from being scored on reliever Jon Kirby’s watch.