Indians fall to AquaSox

The Spokane Indians recaptured the lead off a two-run homerun in the eighth inning, but the Everett AquaSox scored two dramatic runs of their own in the ninth inning to steal a 4-3 win Tuesday at Avista Stadium.

“We had a tough night,” Indians manager Tim Hulett said. “We just couldn’t put them away.”

The Indians led for most of the night that featured storybook weather for baseball. Spokane (3-3) got it started in the bottom of the first inning when Connor McKay hit a grounder that scored Doug Votolato, who earlier had reached on a base hit.

The score stayed that way as Indians pitcher Peter Fairbanks kept throwing first-pitch strikes and kept the AquaSox (5-1) off balance for five scoreless innings.

Former Whitworth pitcher Dan Scheibe replaced Fairbanks in the sixth inning and retired three batters in order. Scheibe struck out the first batter he faced in the seventh and then issued a walk.

The break the AquaSox needed came when Luis Liberato followed with a squibbed grounder down the third-base line. Indians third baseman Ti’Quan Forbes allowed the ball to roll. It went foul, then rolled back into play and plunked the base for a base hit.

“That squibber had so much spin on it, it stayed right on the line and came back fair,” Hulett said. “That was a tough break. That started them going.”

With two runners on, Hulett yanked Scheibe and put in experienced relief pitcher Luis Parra. Two batters later, the AquaSox Alex Jackson scored on a pass ball and Logan Taylor knocked a base hit up the middle to score Liberato.

The score remained 2-1 until Spokane’s Darius Day led off the bottom of the eight with a single to right field. LaDarius Clark followed that up with a home run to left field to give the Indians a 3-2 lead. The homer got the dog-night-at-the- park crowd barking.

“It felt pretty good to get us back in the game – to give us a chance,” Clark said.

The AquaSox started the ninth inning with a Jackson hit to right field that he stretched into a double. But he rounded the bag too far and got caught off before he could return to second base.

After two more AquaSox players reached base, Ryan Uhl hit a two-out single to center field. Day fielded the ball cleanly for Spokane, but he then fell down. Everett’s Drew Jackson raced for home and the throw forced a play at the plate, where Jackson was called safe to give the AquaSox the 4-3 lead.

With one final chance, Spokane’s Diego Cedeno hit a line drive to Everett’s second baseman to start a double play that ended the game.

“It was a bang-bang play at the plate,” Hulett said of the AquaSox score. “We played hard. It was just a good baseball game on both sides.”