Zac Veen leads Spokane Indians’ offense over Vancouver 9-4

From staff reports

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Zac Veen’s bat is heating up.

Veen homered and drove in three runs, and Spokane put together a 13-hit attack in a 9-4 win over Vancouver on Friday afternoon in a Northwest League game.

Veen, who also walked and scored two runs, finished 2 for 3 to collect his fourth multihit performance in his past seven games, a stretch in which he has batted .370 with 10 runs batted in.

Grant Lavigne, who also was 2 for 3 with three RBIs, hit a two-run double to drive in Veen and Braiden Ward in the first inning for a 2-0 lead. Trevor Boone doubled two batters later to knock in Lavigne for a three-run cushion.

Bladimir Restituyo’s single in the sixth drove in Julio Carreras for a 4-2 Indians lead.

Zach Britton’s solo homer in the bottom of the sixth pulled the Canadians within 4-3, but Veen – Colorado’s first-round pick in 2020 – connected on a solo shot in the seventh to push Spokane’s lead back to two.

Boone’s solo homer in the eighth provided a 6-3 margin. Britton homered again in the bottom half of the inning to pull Vancouver within 6-4.

In the ninth, Veen hit a two-run single and Lavigne smacked an RBI double to account for the final score.

Lavigne has hit safely in eight of his past nine games (16 for 35 with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBIs) to boost his season batting average to .306.

Spokane starting pitcher Will Ethridge allowed three earned runs through 5⅔ innings pitched. He allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked two.

Vancouver starter Ricky Tiedemann surrendered three earned runs in five innings.