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Spokane’s rally fades

Grant Gerrard triples to lead off the Spokane Indians' first inning Wednesday. (Christopher Anderson / The Spokesman-Review)
Somer Breeze Staff writer
Grant Gerrard triples to lead off the Spokane Indians' first inning Wednesday. (Christopher Anderson / The Spokesman-Review)

When the lights went out at Avista Stadium, something clicked for the Spokane Indians, but they still fell short.

The Indians made a ninth-inning comeback, but fell to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 6-5 Wednesday night in Northwest League play in front of 3,761 fans at Avista Stadium.

“I’m proud of how we battled,” Indians manager Mike Micucci said. “We have a lot of fight in this club.”

The field lights turned off in the top of the ninth, keeping the game at a standstill for 15 minutes. But when the lights came back on, the Indians turned it up a notch, and tried to recover from a rough start.

The Indians mirrored the Volcanoes in the first two innings, with both teams having one hit each inning but stranding the runners.

Indians center fielder Grant Gerrard tripled to open the first. Gerrard was stranded when the next three batters struck out against John Odom.

“Hitting is hitting,” Gerrard said of hitting leadoff. “I try and take the same approach and get on base.”

Brad Boyer hit a two-run home run in the third off Spokane’s Wandy Morla, allowing Salem-Keizer to break a scoreless tie.

The Indians got a slap in the face in the fourth, when a routine ball to Morla turned into a costly two-run error.

With two runners on, Morla threw to third base to attempt a forceout, but his overthrow scored two runs and put a runner on second with no outs.

Mike McBryde’s double plated another run and left him in scoring position for Emmanuel Burris, who singled him home.

When the Indians took out Morla, the Volcanoes led 6-0.

Patrick Donovan, out of Gonzaga University and North Central High, relieved Morla and got the Indians out of the fourth.

The Indians put themselves on the board in the fourth when right fielder Wally Backman Jr. ripped a ball up the middle to score first baseman Chris Davis.

Neither team scored again until the ninth, when Brian Nelson started an Indians rally with an RBI single. Gerrard later sliced a two-run triple to cut S-K’s lead to 6-5, but the Indians still fell short.

“It shows a lot of the team’s character of how we battled back,” Gerrard said. “We’re gonna keep fighting and figure it out.”

Spokane will host Salem-Keizer for game four of the five-game series at 6:30 p.m. today at Avista Stadium.