Volcanoes erupt late to hand C's eighth straight loss

(Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium - Vancouver, B.C.) - The Vancouver Canadians (8-17) ended up on the wrong side of what began as a back-and-forth affair with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (14-11) as they dropped their eighth-straight game by a final score of 10-5.

The Canadians jumped ahead 3-0 in the 2^nd inning - their first lead of the series - with four base hits off of Volcanoes starter RHP Michael Connelly. 1B Connor Panas and RF Sean Hurley hit back-to-back singles and were brought home by LF Earl Burl III's stand-up double and a single by DH James Lynch, respectively. CF Andrew Guillotte hit into a fielder's choice that scored Burl before Connelly struck out 2B Lane Thomas to end the inning.

The Volcanoes got on the board in the top of the 4^th as 3B Chase Compton led off with a stand-up double, advanced to third on DH Jose Vizcaino's single and touched plate as C Fernando Pujadas hit into a double play.

Salem-Keizer CF Ronnie Jebavy came home on a fielder's choice to make it 3-2 in the 6^th inning, but the real damage came in 7^th inning when RF Julio Pena and LF Shilo McCall smacked back-to-back solo home runs over the left field fence. That brought to an end an otherwise solid outing for Vancouver starting pitcher RHP Jon Wandling, who finished with eight hits, four strikeouts and four earned runs in 6.2 innings before LHP Stuart Holmes was brought in.

Vancouver made Salem-Keizer pay for three defensive errors in the bottom of the 7^th as both Lynch and Guillotte scored. However, the Canadians' 5-4 lead wouldn't last long as the Volcanoes came right back up and put two more runs on the board in the eighth. They added some extra insurance in the ninth as reliever LHP Dan Young loaded the bases, threw a wild pitch to score SS Christian Lichtenhaler, then gave up a two-RBI double to Pujadas. A single by Pena brought Pujadas home to end the scoring at 10-5.

Pena finished with a home run and two RBIs on 4-for-5 hitting to lead the surging Volcanoes offense, while Burl and Lynch each had a pair of hits for the Canadians. RHP E.J. Encinosa was credited with the victory in a relief effort, while Wandling picked up his second loss of the season.

The Canadians will send 2013 Toronto Blue Jays second round draft pick RHP Clinton Hollon (1-1, 3.60) to the mound tomorrow to close out the five-game homestand against the Volcanoes. Hollon has a team-high 28 strikeouts in his five appearances so far this season and four of his starts resulted in Canadians victories. He'll face LHP Nicholas Gonzalez (0-2, 7.58) who gets the ball for his sixth start of the summer for Salem-Keizer.