BOISE, Idaho - Jeimer Candelario hit a walk-off RBI double to right-center in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Boise Hawks to a 10-9 victory over the Spokane Indians at Memorial Stadium.
After the Indians rallied with six runs in the eighth inning and got an RBI double from Ryan Rua in the ninth to erase a 9-2 deficit, the Hawks quickly ended the game. Stephen Bruno lined a leadoff single off reliever Cody Kendall, with Candelario hitting a two-strike pitch off the wall in right, delivering Boise's fourth walkoff win of the season.
The Hawks jumped out to a 9-1 lead after four innings, getting a three-run homer from Dan Vogelbach in a four-run third, and a two-run homer from Marco Hernandez in a four-run fourth inning. However, the Indians had seven-straight batters reach in the eighth inning rally to close the gap to 9-8. Spokane had the go-ahead run aboard with one out in the ninth, but Eddie Orozco struck out Joe Maloney and Preston Beck to end the threat.
Candelario went 3-for-4 with three RBI, with Bruno adding a 3-for-5 night with two RBI in the win. Dong-Yub Kim and Trey Martin added two hits for the Hawks, who extended their win streak to a season-high four games.
Royce Bollinger went 4-for-5 with two runs scored in the loss for Spokane, with Beck going 3-for-5 with a double, triple, and two RBI.
Game 2 of the series is tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m., with Jose Arias meeting Eric Brooks.
