Indians stop Sox

EVERETT, Wash. – The Spokane Indians are staying in the thick of things in the Northwest League’s West Division, thanks in large part to their early-season dominance of the Everett AquaSox.

Andrew Clark drove in four runs on three hits, Randol Rojas pitched into the sixth inning and the Indians beat the East Division-leading AquaSox 9-4 on Saturday night.

After the win, Spokane sits at 11-10 on the season, bolstered by six wins in eight tries versus Everett (15-7).

Rojas (1-1) surrendered three runs – two earned – and limited Everett to just two hits over 5 1/3 innings, walking one and striking out three.

After four scoreless innings Everett took a 2-0 lead on a home run by Mickey Wiswall that scored Kevin Mailoux, who reached on a fielding error by Spokane third baseman Michal Olt.

Clark started a five-run sixth inning for Spokane with a two-run single off Everett starter Anthony Fernandez (3-1).

Brett Nicholas then plated Olt with a single, followed by Jacob Skole’s sacrifice fly that scored Clark. Kevin Rodland added a run-scoring single later in the inning to make the score 5-2.

The AquaSox cut the lead to one in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-loaded walk to Mailoux and a run-scoring groundout by Wiswall made it 5-4.

A two-run single by Clark scored Clark Murphy and Jurickson Profar in the seventh, and Skole scored Olt and Clark with a single off Everett’s Ogui Diaz to give Spokane the final margin, 9-4.

The Indians trail West division-leading Boise by 1 1/2 games.