The Vancouver Canadians have been dethroned as Northwest League champions as the Spokane Indians rallied to win 3-2 in 10 innings in Game 4 at Gonzaga University on Saturday.
The Canadians got the first run of the game for the third time in the series and in the end, it would not pay off again as they lost Games 1 and 3 after drawing first blood. Jackson Hornung singled to right field to begin the top of the fourth inning and Jay Harry flared a single to left against Spokane starter Michael Prosecky. A Jacob Sharp 6-4-3 double play got Hornung over to third but the inning was salvaged when Brennan Orf doubled to center to drive in Hornung. Spokane third baseman Kyle Karros made a diving stop on a Nick Goodwin ground ball to third and completed the 5-3 play to prevent Orf from scoring.
Spokane knotted things up against Vancouver starter Grant Rogers in the home half of the fourth. Dyan Jorge reached on an infield single to third and got into scoring position with two outs on a José Cordova grounder to short. Rogers got ahead of Charlie Condon in the count at one ball and two strikes but Condon lined a single up the middle to bring home Jorge.
Vancouver took the lead again in the top of the 10th inning against Spokane reliever Sam Weatherly. With Sharp as the placed runner at second, Orf singled to center to put runners on the corners. Jace Bohrofen lifted a medium-range fly ball to left and Sharp narrowly beat the throw to home by Condon with a feet-first slide to put Vancouver up 2-1. With Orf advancing to second on the Bohrofen fly ball, Adrian Pinto was intentionally walked. Marcos De La Rosa—wearing number 32 instead of his usual number 9—pinch-ran for Orf but he and Pinto were stranded by Weatherly who struck out Peyton Williams to end the inning.
Spokane put the pressure on new C’s reliever Geison Urbaez in the bottom of the 10th. Andy Perez laid down a bunt single that Urbaez could not do anything with and that advanced placed runner Jake Snider to third base. Cole Carrigg hit a sharp grounder to first to Williams who tried to step on the first base bag and throw out Snider at the plate but he could not do either as Snider scored the tying run. Jorge was intentionally walked to load the bases and the next pitch from Urbaez hit Karros to force in Perez with the championship-winning run.
C-Notes
Rogers worked a 1-2-3 inning in the first and second that included strikeouts of Jorge and Condon in the middle of each stanza. Je’Von Ward made a leaping catch at the right field wall to take away a hit from Cordova.
Two more strikeouts by Rogers were registered in the third as he fanned GJ Hill and Perez to sandwich a Snider infield single to short. Rogers would get through the fifth without incident before he gave up a Carrigg single to center to open the sixth. Rogers struck out Jorge who was called for batter interference when he impeded Sharp behind the plate from throwing out Carrigg trying to steal second. After that strikeout double play, Rogers retired Karros on a fly ball to right.
Rogers recorded one more out in the sixth by getting Cordova on a fly ball to right but a Condon single to left resulted in a call to the bullpen. JJ Sánchez got Bryant Betancourt to fly out to center before walking Hill but Snider hit into a 6-4 fielder’s choice to strand Condon and Hill.
Bo Bonds had a three-up, three-down eighth inning that started with a strikeout of Perez. The ninth inning saw Bonds walk the tightrope when he walked Karros with nobody out. Karros stole second and went to third on a Cordova infield single to short. Cordova went to second on defensive indifference and that resulted in an intentional walk to Condon to load the bases. Betancourt hit a shallow fly ball to right that was not deep enough score Karros for the first out. Bonds would send the game into overtime by striking out Hill and Snider to leave the bases loaded.
Williams had the first hit of Game 4 with a two-out single to left field in the first inning. The first golden opportunity for Vancouver to score came in the third inning. Bohrofen and Pinto drew two out walks and Williams reached on a Karros error at third as his throw hit Pinto at second. Ward got ahead in the count at two balls and no strikes against Prosecky but was thrown out at first as he could not beat out a chopper to second.
Bohrofen singled to left to start the top of the fifth but a Pinto 6-3 double play and a Williams strikeout resulted in Prosecky facing the minimum.
Welinton Herrera overpowered the Vancouver bats in the sixth by striking out the side and added one more whiff in a perfect seventh. Carlos Torres also worked a three-up, three-down inning in the eighth.
Ward began the ninth with a walk against Weatherly but he would get no further. Hornung hit a sinking liner that Perez made a diving stop on for the first of three consecutive outs.
Congratulations to the Spokane Indians for winning the title. They showed they were the best team in the league all season long as they were the first-half and second-half pennant winners. Congrats also to longtime play-by-play Mike Boyle who has been waiting a long time to call a championship clincher.
The Canadians overcame a sluggish first half and managed to clinch a playoff berth in the second half, making a third straight appearance in the championship final. Congratulations to skipper Brent Lavallee and his crew for putting up a good fight against Spokane.
That is it for Monty’s Mounties for 2024. A check of the Schedule page on CanadiansBaseball.com shows the 2025 season opener is set for Friday, April 4 in Tri-City. That’s the first time since 2021 that the C’s will not face Spokane in the season opener. However, the C’s will head to Spokane for a six-game set after their opening weekend set in Pasco, Washington. The home opener will be on Tuesday, April 15 against the Eugene Emeralds.
This blog will be on hiatus but there are a number of interviews that were conducted over the last regular season homestand that will be coming up in the weeks to follow so stay tuned. Thanks a million for checking in.
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