Indians Win, Keep .500 Within Reach

With less than a week remaining in the Northwest League baseball season, the Spokane Indians haven’t given up on their hopes of reaching the .500 mark.

The Indians, who have not won as many as they have lost since the season began in mid-June, swept the two-game series with the Yakima Bears Sunday night by pounding out an 8-2 victory.

The triumph was Spokane’s fourth in five games. The Indians bumped their record to 33-37.

Spokane has the night off tonight. With six games remaining in the 76-game schedule, the Indians will conclude the season with two games at Bellingham, two at home against Yakima and two more at Yakima.

Manager Al Pedrique’s Indians must win five of the six to reach .500. Spokane has not finished at or above the break-even mark since 1990.

Sunday, third baseman William Rolland was the batting hero, pounding out two doubles and a single and driving in two runs.

The Indians broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the fifth inning then added two each in the sixth and seventh.

Starting pitcher Allen Sanders worked the first six innings to earn his third victory, allowing only three hits and an unearned run.

Roland’s first double opened Spokane’s fifth. He was at third base with two out when Tyrone Frazier scored him with a bloop single. After a stolen base and a walk, Patrick Hallmark doubled in two more runs then scored himself on an error.

Doubles by James Vida and Roland and a single by Frazier accounted for Spokane’s sixth-inning runs. Roland contributed an RBI single in the seventh.

, DataTimes