Vancouver Canadians Extend Championship Lead with Extra-Inning Victory Over Eugene

Toronto Blue Jays farm team carries a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Northwest League finals into a Friday visit to the Eugene Emeralds

The Vancouver Canadians are one win away from capturing the Northwest League championship and will look to clinch the title when they host the Eugene Emeralds.

Gable Mitchell’s sacrifice fly to deep right field in the bottom of the 10th inning plated Dariel Ramon, giving the Canadians a 5-4 victory over the Emeralds at Nat Bailey Stadium Wednesday night and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five championship series.

Vancouver recorded an 8-7 come-from-behind win in Game 1 at Nat Bailey Tuesday night.

Game 3 is scheduled for Friday in Eugene, Oregon, with first pitch slated for 6:35 p.m. Games 4 and 5, if necessary, would also be held there.

Vancouver is the high-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and this marks their fourth appearance in the Northwest League finals in five years. The Canadians are seeking their second title in that span, adding to their 2023 championship.

Eugene, a San Francisco Giants farm team, reached the final after winning both halves of the 132-game regular season but fell in last year’s championship series.

Right-hander Landen Maroudis, 21, a 2023 fourth-round draft pick by the Blue Jays, is scheduled to start Game 3 for Vancouver. Eugene will counter with righty Hunter Dryden, 23, a 2024 17th-round pick for San Francisco.

There has been only one sweep in the last five Northwest League finals, when Eugene defeated Vancouver in 2022. The other four championship series have gone the full four games.

The Emeralds scored twice in the top of the seventh Wednesday before a announced crowd of 4,735 to tie the game at 4-4. Vancouver had taken a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, with Dameury Pena scoring on a wild pitch and Mitchell driving in a run on a single by Ryan Sprock.

Carson Myers pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win for Vancouver. Troy Guthrie started for the Canadians and struck out seven over five innings while giving up two earned runs on four hits and a walk.

Vancouver finished last in the league during the first half of the season but improved significantly with a 17-9 record in August. The Canadians went 13-17 against the Emeralds in the regular season, including a 5-7 record in Eugene, but split a six-game series during their most recent visit there Aug. 18-23.

The Vancouver Canadians have been a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate since 2011, having previously won four short-season championships during their time with Blue Jays prospects.

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