Spokane, WA - A crowd of 6,478 was on hand at Avista Stadium for Opening Night Fireworks & AAA Magnet Schedule Giveaway presented by Les Schwab Tires, KREM 2-TV, 93.7 The Mountain, and SportsRadio 1510 KGA as the Vancouver Canadians defeated the Spokane Indians 8-1.
Vancouver slugger Balbino Fuenmayor touched up Indians starting pitcher John Kukuruda (0-1) for a long three-run home run in the top of the third inning, and the Canadians took advantage of two critical Spokane errors on their way to a season opening victory.
The Indians mounted a comeback attempt in the eighth, scoring on a Nick Urbanus RBI single and loading the bases with two outs for leftfielder Royce Bolinger. The former Gonzaga outfielder ripped a fastball from Canadians reliever Zack Breault, sending the packed house to their feet, but the long fly ball was tracked down at the wall by centerfielder Dalton Pompey to end the threat.
Vancouver reliever Javier Avendano (1-0) picked up the win in relief of starting pitcher Eric Brown, who held the Indians to just one hit over four scoreless frames.
Kukuruda struck out four in four innings, allowing four runs but just one earned, as a throwing error from third baseman Smerling Lantigua opened the door for Fuenmayor's four-bagger.
Urbanus, Ryan Rua, and Cam Schiller each picked up one hit in the loss.
