Volcanoes fall to Boise in rubber match

Boise bested the Volcanoes on Wednesday night by a score of 8 to 4 to win the rubber game of the three game set. While the Volcanoes matched the Hawks with eight hits on Wednesday night, sloppy defense and erratic pitching proved costly as five of the eight Hawks runs reached base via error or walk.
Going into the game, the Volcanoes knew they were going to have to scrap for every run against Hawks' ace Breiling Eusebio who boasted a brilliant 0.75 ERA entering tonight's contest. In the first inning, centerfielder Malique Ziegler and second baseman Kevin Rivera both hit slow choppers to the infield that induced errors by Hawks infielders to start the game. Kevin Rivera then attempted to swipe second, but the moment catcher Austin Bernard threw down to second, Malique Ziegler took off from third and scored standing up for the first run of the game.
The Volcanoes would also fall victim to defensive sloppiness in the bottom half of the first when they had an opportunity to roll an inning ending double play twice, only to have Kevin Rivera boot both grounders allowing the Hawks to regain the lead 3 to 1. After Marte struck out the next batter to record the second out, the ball found Kevin Rivera again and he again mishandled the slow roller for his third error of the inning, pushing another runner across the plate.
The Volcanoes would respond in the top of the second with an RBI single to center by designated hitter John Riley to narrow the deficit to 4 to 2.
In the third, Gustavo Cabrera, who had his first hit of the season last night on a towering two run shot to left, once again produced for the Volcanoes tonight on an RBI single left, drawing the Volcanoes one run closer at 4 to 3.
Marte was replaced by right hander Hengerber Medina in the third after he built up a high pitch count due in large part to walking four batters across two frames. Medina would also struggle with his command, issuing three free passes across 2.2 innings, leading to three more runs, giving the Hawks a 7 to 3 advantage.
Northwest League ERA leader Breiling Eusebio would exit the game in the sixth with a 7 to 3 lead after punching out seven Volcanoes hitters across five frames. Eusebio sat at 93 mph on the night, touching as high as 95 on the radar gun, while also featuring a devastating changeup.
The one bright spot for the Volcanoes was John Riley, who went 3 for 4, raising his average from .250 to .417 on the season.
The Volcanoes will drive fours north on Interstate-84 to begin a 5 game set with the Tri-City Dust Devils on Thursday evening at 6:15 p.m. The Volcanoes will look to bounce back against the Dust Devils who took four out of five against Volcanoes in Keizer to start the season.