Volcanoes Take Game 1 From Indians 5-3
SPOKANE – The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes went into Avista Stadium, struck early and held on to take Game 1 of the Northwest League Championship Series from the Spokane Indians 5-3 on Thursday night.
The win gives the Volcanoes, the two-time defending NWL champions, a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Game 2 will be Friday afternoon at 1:30 in Avista Stadium.
Salem-Keizer got into Spokane early Thursday morning, but the Indians looked like the tired team at the beginning. In the top of the first inning, a throwing error by Spokane shortstop Jacob Kaase allowed Vladimir Frias to reach base. Then Frias stole second, which was followed by a walk to Conor Gillaspie. Spokane starting pitcher Wilfredo Boscan then hit Francisco Peguero, loading the bases. Mike Loberg then forced Peguero at second, scoring Frias and advancing Gillaspie to third base. Jose Flores then got the only hit of the inning, scoring Gillaspie. S-K ended the inning with a 2-0 lead.
The Volcanoes scored again in the third inning. Peguero singled to center field, then advanced to third when Loberg doubled to left field. Flores then grounded out to second base, scoring Peguero and advancing Loberg to third. Loberg then scored on a ground out to shortstop by Johnny Monell. That put S-K up 4-0, and the Indians were in big trouble.
The Volcanoes stretched the lead to 5-0 in the seventh. Loberg scored after a single by Monell with two outs in the inning.
Spokane finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh inning. After a strike out, Jared Bolden walked, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He advanced to third when Kaase grounded out to second base. David Paisano singled to right, scoring Bolden. Eric Fry then hit a two-run homer to right, making the score 5-3. But that’s as close as Spokane would get.
Andrew Reichard pitched 5 1/3 innings to get the win, scattering four hits and giving up no runs. Boscan got the loss, giving up four runs and seven hits over five innings. Edwin Quirarte got the save for S-K, striking out all three Indians he faced in the ninth inning.
