Reichard, Volcanoes take opener

Andy Reichard hurled 5 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday as the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes topped the Spokane Indians, 5-3, in Game 1 of the Northwest League Championship Series.

Reichard (1-0) allowed four hits and three walks while striking out four. Edwin Quirarte struck out the side in the ninth to notch the save.

Salem-Keizer needs two more victories to secure its third straight title. The Volcanoes have won seven of their last eight games in the championship series.

Mike Loberg got Salem-Keizer going in the opening inning with an RBI groundout and Jose Flores added a run-scoring single. Flores and Johnny Monell padded the lead with RBI grounders in the third.

Loberg, Flores and Caleb Curry banged out two hits apiece for Salem-Keizer.

Wilfredo Boscan (0-1) yielded four runs -- three earned -- on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout over five frames for Spokane, which hosts Game 2 on Friday. Box score