Spokane, WA - If Connor Sadzeck never wanted to pitch anywhere besides Avista Stadium again, no one would fault him. The towering right-hander from Crystal Lake, Illinois had his best start of the season and second consecutive dominant outing at home, carrying a no-hitter through five and two-thirds innings and finishing with six scoreless frames. Sadzeck's superlative start went for not though, as the Indians offense faltered again in a 3-1 loss to Eugene in front of 5,504 fans for Fireworks Night presented by Valley Glass, The Big 99.9 Coyote, and The Current.
The former Howard College star held the league's third best offense hitless until the sixth inning when Ronnie Richardson doubled off the left field wall. Sadzeck barred down though, inducing a groundout from Corey Adamson to strand runners at second and third. In his two starts totaling ten innings at Avista Stadium, Sadzeck has now allowed just one earned run on two hits while striking out eight.
Designated hitter Brandon Garcia got the Indians on the board in the fifth inning with a mammoth home run over the Xfinity sign in right field, but the lead only lasted until the seventh, as a wild pitch from John Kukuruda allowed the tying run to score.
Alec Asher allowed no hits in the ninth and tenth while striking out two but Ryan Harvey (0-1) was touched up for two runs in the eleventh that proved to be the difference in the game.
Catcher Patrick Cantwell went 4-5 with a double to raise his average to .306, and Garcia, Gabriel Roa, Ryan Rua, and Cam Schiller all picked up hits in the loss.
