Hawks Kill Suspense Of Pennant Race North Division Leader Stops Spokane 8-4 To Open Four-Game Lead With Seven Games Remaining

Nothing except a complete breakdown should impede the Boise Hawks from winning the Northwest League North Division.

Boise scored in the first four innings Wednesday to build an 8-1 lead, then held off the Spokane Indians 8-4 in the middle game of a crucial, three-game series.

Boise (45-24) leads Spokane (41-28) by four games with seven remaining in the season.

Tying Boise in the standings won’t be good enough for Spokane. The NWL’s tiebreaking formula is head-to-head matchups, and Boise leads the season series 8-3 with one game left.

Boise’s magic number for winning the North is three. Any combination of three Boise wins or Spokane losses will add up to a Hawks title.

If Spokane finishes the year 7-0, Boise would still win with a finish of 3-4 or better.

Boise, 28-6 at home, snapped Spokane’s five-game winning streak.

Boise, new to the North Division this year, claimed five of the last seven South titles.

The Hawks jumped on Indians starter Corey Thurman (1-1) Wednesday. The 18-year-old, making his fourth start, walked the first three batters and trailed 2-0 after one inning.

Paxton Stewart’s sacrifice fly in the second gave Boise a 3-0 edge.

Thurman allowed three more runs in the third, starting with Casey Martin’s solo homer and ending with Chris Peckham’s sacrifice fly. Thurman gave way to Donald Quigley, trailing 6-1.

Quigley allowed two runs in the sixth, one on a wild pitch, then retired the final 10 batters he faced.

Jamie Burton, the third Spokane pitcher, worked a 1-2-3 eighth, meaning the final 13 Boise batters went down harmlessly.

Spokane wore down Hawks starter Joe Gangemi (6-2) with a three-run seventh. Juan LeBron led off with a triple, Doug Blosser was hit by a pitch, and Dave Willis stroked an RBI single. Blosser scored on a passed ball, Willis on Kirk Taylor’s single.

Hawks reliever Hector Rodriguez snuffed the rally and worked a 1-2-3 eighth, the fifth time in the game Spokane went down in order.

The Indians put two aboard in the ninth against Rodriguez, including Goefrey Tomlinson’s two-out, pinch-hit single to increase his hitting streak to 14 games. But Bo Donaldson took over and fanned Taylor for his league-best 14th save.

The series ends tonight, with Kris Wilson (3-3, 4.88 ERA) starting for the Indians against Greg Jones (1-1, 3.21).

Spokane begins its final homestand, a three-gamer, Friday against Everett.