Early offensive surge leads Volcanoes past Bears

The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes won by a score of 9-4 against the Yakima Bears at Volcanoes Stadium. The win improved the Volcanoes Northwest League first place record to 29 wins and 8 losses. Three costly Yakima errors and timely hitting lead the Volcanoes to the win. The Volcanoes drove in five runs with two outs in the inning. Volcanoes first baseman Chad Rothford sparked the offense with a two-run homerun in the first inning that put Salem-Keizer up for good. The homerun was Rothford’s team high sixth of the season. Volcanoes second baseman Brock Bond and left fielder Jeremiah Luster each contributed three hits apiece. Designated hitter Garret Baker drove in two runs, putting his team high total to 28 for the season.
The Volcanoes pitching staff had a rough start, giving up four earned runs over the first five innings. Salem-Keizer starter Jared Cranston and reliever Jason Neitz gave up all the runs. Volcanoes reliever David Mixon came in and pitched three innings of scoreless relief for his second win of the season. Mixon gave up three hits and struck out four. Carlos De La Rosa pitched a perfect ninth inning, his seventh appearance of the season.
Salem-Keizer will play the fourth game of the five game series against the Yakima Bears tomorrow night at 6:35 pm.Comment at the link below.