Indians Brake Skid, Win First Roland’s Homer Caps Tribe’s 5-2 Triumph Over Everett Before 2,578 Fans At Seafirst

William Roland thought his hit would carom off the wall. Jonathan Albrecht thought his 3-and-2 pitch with the bases loaded was too low.

In Spokane’s five previous Northwest League baseball games, all losses, Roland and Albrecht’s hunches might have proved correct.

Yet the Indians finally caught a few breaks on Tuesday, resulting in a 5-2 win over the Everett AquaSox before 2,578 at chilly Seafirst Stadium.

Roland’s liner to left to lead off the sixth inning kept carrying instead of meeting up with the wall. The home run, the Indians’ first of the year, capped the scoring.

“I figured it was going to hit off the wall,” said the designated hitter. “I just kept my head down and ran hard toward second.”

With a 5-2 lead after six, Indians manager Al Pedrique took out starter Modesto Villarreal (1-0) and summoned Brent Kaysner. The right hander struck out three of the six batters he faced, but found trouble in the eighth when he walked leadoff batter Cy Simonton and allowed Jose Amado’s one-out double.

Pedrique called upon Albrecht, a lefty, who immediately hit Joe Pomierski with a pitch to load the bases.

Luis Tinoco then worked Albrecht for a full count before swinging at strike three.

“I was lucky he swung at that pitch, because it was low,” Albrecht said.

Randy Vickers, batting .400 on the young season, next hit a screaming grounder that third baseman Mark Quinn turned into an inning-ending force out at second.

“(Quinn) saved at least two runs,” said Albrecht, who earned the save.

Spokane collected 10 hits, including four doubles. Mark Melito had two doubles and Leon Weathersby had a two run double in the fourth. Melito had an RBI double in the third, which Brent Schafer followed with one of his own.

All the damage came against Jason Ruskey (0-2), who lasted 6 innings.

“We’ve been getting a lot of bad breaks,” Weathersby said. “(Pedrique) said we’d start finding the holes.”

“I told the hitters to just keep doing the same thing they’ve been doing the last five days,” said Pedrique, who had seen his team blow three leads this year.

Villarreal struck out five and walked none. He allowed Pomierski’s RBI triple in the first and Dusty Wathan’s solo homer in the fifth. Wathan was 3 for 4 with a double.

“(Losing) is no big deal,” said Wathan, son of former Kansas City catcher and manager John Wathan. “Every team is going to win sooner or later. They played a good game and we couldn’t get the clutch hits.”

Everett’s Matt Sachse, of Ferris High, went 0 for 4 and struck out three times.

Notes: After tonight, Spokane takes to the road for a week… . Left-handed pitcher Mike Robbins of Stanford, Kansas City’s ninth selection in the amateur draft, is set to join the Indians… . The Indians were in no danger of setting the NWL record for most losses to open a season. Bellingham lost its first 25 games in 1975.

, DataTimes