Lorin strikes out 13 in AquaSox home opener

EVERETT -- Brett Lorin has pitched a lot of innings in his baseball career, but he never had a strikeout performance like the one he turned in Sunday night.

Lorin helped the Everett AquaSox celebrate their 25th Northwest League home opener with a dominating performance in a 2-1 victory over the Boise Hawks.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander from Long Beach State struck out 13 in six innings to pick up the first victory of his professional career.

"That's definitely a record for me. I've never had this many strikeouts in any kind of game before," Lorin said. "It was good to do it on opening night. I'm sure the fans were happy."

A crowd of 3,121 at Everett Memorial Stadium watched Lorin and relievers Matt Renfree and Javier Martinez combine for 15 strikeouts.

"I could have kept going, but they must have had me on a pitch count," Lorin said. "My velocity was there early and I knew if I could get ahead early I'd have a good shot at keeping us in the game. Good things happen when you throw strikes."

It was Lorin's second pro outing. The fifth-round selection in this month's draft threw two shutout innings of relief when Everett (3-3) opened the season in Spokane.

Lorin consistently threw his fastball in the mid-90s and set the tone early when he whiffed the first three Boise batters. He allowed only three hits, did not issue a walk and allowed only two singles after Ryan Flaherty led off the second inning with a home run.

The AquaSox tied it in the bottom of the second when Travis Howell walked with two outs and Brandon Fromm drove him in with a double off the center-field fence.

Everett scored the go-ahead run in the fifth when Fromm reached first after striking out on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Ben Billingsley.

DuRocher moved up

Johnny DuRocher, former Washington Huskies quarterback, didn't last long in Everett. DuRocher, who didn't allow a hit over 5-2/3 innings in his first two appearances for the AquaSox, has been promoted to Class A Wisconsin.

Notes

• Everett trainer Spider Webb was honored before the game for his 30th consecutive season working in the Northwest League.

• The AquaSox roster for the home opener featured players from five countries -- the United States (15), Dominican Republic (7), Canada (1), Venezuela (1) and Japan (1).

AQUASOX 2, HAWKS 1