Hawks Throttle Indians Poor Defense Allows Boise To Take Second Straight Win Over Spokane

The numbers finally added up Sunday evening for the Boise Hawks.

Actually, timely hitting probably had more to do with Boise’s 11-4 Northwest League victory over the Spokane Indians than the sum.

Still, the Hawks’ 15 hits - 29 combined in the opening two games of the five-game series - had a cumulative effect.

“Our situational hitting was a bit better tonight than what it has been,” said Tom Kotchman, manager of the two-time defending league champion Hawks.

While Boise added handsomely to its league-leading hitting statistics, Spokane picked a poor time to unravel defensively before a crowd of 3,129 at Seafirst Stadium.

Spokane (13-18), losing for a second straight night after a stretch of seven wins in nine games, committed five errors. Another glaring deficiency defensively for the Indians was their inability to turn a double play.

The Indians got the front end of four double-play attempts but couldn’t finish. And a fifth opportunity late in the game was botched when relief pitcher Jesus Liz couldn’t throw a strike to home plate from 35 feet away after cleanly fielding a sharp grounder.

“You can hit but it if you don’t play defense you’re not going to win games I don’t care what anybody says,” Spokane manager Al Pedrique said. “When you play the game behind all the time it’s hard to come back.”

Boise (19-12) jumped all over Spokane starter Allen Sanders in the first inning. The Hawks bunched four consecutive hits to open the game. Danny Buxbaum, the second-leading run producer in the league entering the game, had a run-scoring single in the first inning, but had to leave the game after reaching on a walk in the third inning with back spasms. His status is day to day.

The Hawks followed up their three-run first inning with three more in the third, two in the fifth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth before cooling off.

“You can see the numbers, they can hit, that’s not a secret,” Pedrique said.

Still, Pedrique felt his team played well enough offensively (10 hits) to win many games.

“They (the Hawks) got 15 hits and we committed five errors. That’s not fundamental baseball,” Pedrique said. “The pitchers can throw all the strikes they want, but if we don’t catch the ball they have to work extra.”

Eight of nine Boise starters collected hits, and Gar Vallone, Ryan Kane and Ty Bilderback led the way with three each.

The most timely of the Hawks hitters, though, was Vallone. A two-out double plated two runs in the fifth and he followed that up with a two-run double off the left-field wall in the seventh inning.

Spokane threatened in the fourth when it cut Boise’s lead in half. Second baseman Joel Nations hit a two-out, two-run double to trim the Hawks’ lead to 6-3.

Boise put the game away with two runs in the fifth and seventh innings.

Notes

Spokane’s James Vida, the NWL’s third-leading hitter, went 2 for 4… . Tonight’s featured pitchers for the 7:05 start will be Spokane’s Hal Hodge (2-0) and Boise’s Keith Coe (1-2). The five-game series concludes Tuesday.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ON DECK Spokane hosts Boise at 7:05 tonight