Opening Day? Try Nightmare Boise’S Six-Run Third Inning Sends Indians To Defeat In Nwl Hawks 9 Indians 5

Maybe the Spokane Indians should consider today’s baseball game their season opener.

Friday’s authentic season opener was one to file away in the bottom of the cabinet.

Spokane fell behind 7-0 in the third inning and lost to Boise 9-5 to inaugurate the Northwest League season at Memorial Stadium.

It was an undramatic resumption of the most heated rivalry from the previous NWL season. Spokane and Boise tied for the league’s best record at 47-29. Boise defeated Spokane in the season’s final game to clinch a playoff spot because it owned the tiebreaking advantage.

Boise scored six times in the third after Indians starter Craig Jones (0-1) began the inning with a strikeout and a groundout.

Nine consecutive Hawks then reached base, six of them on singles. The streak also included two errors, one walk and one hit batter.

Jones allowed eight hits and five earned runs in 2-2/3 innings.

Boise starter Felipe Suarez (1-0) entered the seventh with a four-hit shutout.

Suarez retired seven consecutive batters, and 13 of 14, after James McAuley’s single in the second inning. The Hawks right-hander struck out the side in the fifth.

Casey Dunn and McAuley doubled in the seventh to end Suarez’s shutout. Suarez struck out seven and walked one in seven innings.

Second baseman Eric Nelson, Spokane’s No. 3 hitter, belted a three-run home run to right field before anyone was out in the eighth. James Shanks had walked to lead off the inning, and moved up on Mark Ellis’ single.

Manager Tom Kotchman, beginning his 10th season with the Hawks, recorded his 418th Northwest League victory. The loss spoiled the debut of Indians manager Kevin Long.

The teams also met to kick off the 1998 season. Boise won that game 5-4 in 10 innings and swept the three-game series with one-run victories each time.

Boise and Spokane play again tonight at 6:05. Right-hander Ryan Douglass is scheduled to start for the Indians.