Indians Waste Fast Start, Irk Their Manager

One could feel this one slipping away. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the rain.

The Everett AquaSox came back from a four-run deficit to beat the Spokane Indians 6-5 Sunday night in a Northwest League baseball game at Seafirst Stadium.

Spokane’s inability to put teams away in clutch situations is taking its toll on Indians manager Al Pedrique.

“If you score five runs in the first two innings, you should win the game,” Pedrique said. “You’ve got to say to yourself, ‘This is my game.”’

Those words apparently never ran through the mind of his team.

Clinging to a 5-4 lead entering the top of the ninth, Spokane executed the perfect collapse.

Ferris High alum Matt Sachse led off the top of the ninth with a base hit for Everett before light-hitting left fielder Cy Simonton drove him in to tie the score at 5-5.

With a .207 batting average, Simonton rocked a Matt Saier pitch to center field for a double. Simonton then advanced to third on a wild pitch by Saier, setting up the dramatic winning run.

With a squeeze play on and Chad Sheffer at bat, Simonton took off for home as Saier entered his windup. Sheffer bunted the ball over Saier’s head for a base hit that allowed Simonton to score.

“In situations like that before, I’ve decided to bunt and it didn’t work,” Everett manager Orlando Gomez said. “This time, ‘Sheff’ hit it perfect.”

As for Simonton, he finished the game 2 for 3, the double obviously being the biggest hit. “I was just looking to drive the ball as hard as I could in that situation,” he said.

Sachse also finished 2 for 4. Since getting off to a slow start, the Stanford University sophomore has raised his batting average to .240.

“I’m glad I got a chance to get that hit in the ninth because I choked in the sixth with the tying run on third,” he said.

Sachse said he’s feeling more comfortable at the plate, but added that there is still a lot of work for him to do. He has 26 hits against 38 strikeouts for the season.

“I’ve got way too many K’s,” he said. “I’ve choked up a little bit on the bat and am trying to just make better contact.”

Also choking somewhat was the Indians pitching staff.

Starter Allen Sanders was given five runs, four of which came in the first inning, but gave back four of them in the second and third.

Jason Ritter did a solid job in middle relief, holding Everett to two hits in three innings. Saier came in in the seventh and did a good job himself until the final inning.

Dejected, Saier sat alone in the Spokane dugout long after his team had gone into the locker room.

Although Saier would not comment about the game, Pedrique filled in.

“I always talk to them about the good things and bad things we did the night before on game day,” he said. “Now, I’m getting to the point where I’m repeating myself everyday.

“This is professional baseball. You’ve got to have heart.”

Notes: Spokane sent outfielder Scott Kortmeyer home to Glenridge, Ariz., to nurse a torn ligament in the pinkie finger on his right hand. Kortmeyer was hit by a pitch on July 17 and hasn’t played since. He was batting .141 in 21 games… . Outfielder Leon Weathersby, hitting .229 with 12 RBIs in 37 games, has left the club for personal reasons… . For the 10th straight year, the Indians have gone over the 100,000 mark in attendance. Eugene is the only other Northwest League team to have accomplished the same mark over the same period of time.

, DataTimes