Indians remain winless

The day after a ninth-inning rally fell short, the Spokane Indians had a ninth-inning meltdown in a 7-1 Northwest League loss to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Thursday night in front of 3,522 fans at Avista Stadium.

All week the Indians have been struggling with their fielding, but on Thursday Spokane boasted a clean defense – including three double plays – until the ninth inning.

“I thought we played really well up until the ninth inning and then we didn’t execute, which has been an ongoing problem,” Indians manager Mike Micucci said.

Trailing 3-1, Spokane’s Brennan Garr was sent in to relieve in the ninth. He opened the inning by giving up a walk and a hit. Then the Volcanoes’ Ryan Rohlinger bunted to Garr, who overthrew to first, scoring a run and leaving two base runners in scoring position with no outs. A fielding error by third baseman Steve Marquardt scored another run.

Micucci brought in John Slusarz, who gave up an RBI single and sacrifice fly before Spokane got out of the inning with a diving catch by right fielder Wally Backman Jr.

But the damage was done and there was no recovering. First baseman Chris Kemp managed a ninth-inning single, the Indians’ third hit compared to S-K’s 10, but he was stranded.

Spokane’s starting pitcher, Michael Wagner (Washington State University), made his second appearance of the series and gave up three runs to the Volcanoes in the first three innings.

The Indians were slow to produce on offense, with left fielder Brian Nelson picking up their first hit, a single, in the third inning.

Derrick Jones relieved Wagner in the fourth with S-K leading 3-0. Jones gave up a double to Rohlinger, who advanced to third on a groundout. . Thomas Neal then flew out to center fielder Craig Gentry, who caught the ball on the run and threw out Rohlinger at home to end the inning..

Spokane ended its scoreless spell when third baseman Marquardt reached base in the fourth on a throwing error and went to second on a passed ball. Designated hitter Grant Gerrard moved Marquardt to third on a groundout and he scored on another groundout by Kemp.

The Indians remain winless after their four opening NWL games against the Volcanoes.

“We just gotta come out and keep playing,” Micucci said. “It’ll turn.”

The final game of the five-game series against S-K starts at 6:30 p.m. today at Avista Stadium. It will be $1 Family Feast Night, in which all hot dogs, Pepsi products and ice cream sandwiches are just $1.