Susdorf’s long-distance call connects for an Indians win

Michael Kunes was supposed to call Billy Susdorf after Monday night’s baseball game.

Susdorf connected with Kunes before the game ended.

Susdorf’s three-run double off Kunes (0-1) in the seventh inning gave the Spokane Indians a 3-2 win over Salem-Keizer in the Indians’ Northwest League baseball home opener at Avista Stadium.

Susdorf and Kunes were teammates at UCLA before Kunes was selected in last year’s amateur draft. Susdorf joined Kunes in the NWL when the Texas Rangers drafted him in the sixth round this year.

“It’s kind of cool getting a hit off him,” Susdorf said. “Maybe we’ll go out later and he can buy me a couple of drinks.”

With the Volcanoes leading 2-0, Susdorf drilled a two-out, 0-1 fastball off the wall to dead center field. Bobby LeNoir, Tug Hulett and Travis Metcalf scored.

”(Susdorf) had some good cuts in his previous at-bat and he was right on that first pitch,” said Indians manager Darryl Kennedy. “I was hoping with the next one that he’d connect.”

Both teams entered the first game of the five-game set with a 2-1 record. Spokane and S-K were meeting for the first time since September’s NWL championship series, won by Spokane 3-0.

The game, played in ideal baseball weather, drew 6,804 to revamped Avista. The stadium’s new feature, the Grotto in right field, came into play with the first batter of the game.

The Grotto, a special area for fans, has shortened the distance to right by at least 35 feet and lowered the fence significantly.

Left-handed hitter Clay Timpner took advantage of the short porch by lining a home run on the game’s fifth pitch from Josh Rupe. Bases umpire Garrett Wilson ruled the ball foul, but home-plate ump Casey Meadows overturned the call after a visit from S-K manger Joe Strain. Kennedy counter-argued, to no avail.

“I was asking how the guy at home plate had a better view of the home run than the guy on the bases,” Kennedy said. “(Wilson) said he made a mistake, and you have to respect him for that.”

Rupe retired the next 12 batters before giving way to Willy Espinal (1-0). Espinal, roughed up during Friday’s season opener in Boise, pitched a strong 3 2/3 innings. He allowed a 380-foot homer to left-center against the second batter he faced, Adalberto Paulino.

Through five innings, Spokane had stranded 10 men on base while the Volcanoes’ only baserunners had come on the two homers.

The Indians had the bases loaded and nobody out in the second when LeNoir grounded into a 1-2-3 double play on a 3-1 pitch. The inning ended on a groundout.

Spokane put two aboard with nobody out in the third, but Jim Fasano grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.

“We couldn’t get that big hit early in the game,” Kennedy said. “We had the starter (John Odom) on the ropes a couple of times, and he made great pitches to get out of it.”

University of California product Jesse Ingram earned his second save by pitching the ninth. The Volcanoes had runners at the corners after Simon Klink’s two-out single on a 3-2 pitch, but Paulino flew deep to center to end the game.

Tonight’s scheduled starters are S-K left-hander Jesus Reina and Spokane right-hander Mark Roberts.