Canadians Win Third Straight; Top Salem 6-4

By Rob Fai

June 21, 2013

(Volcanoes Stadium - Keizer, OR) - With five runs over the final two innings of Thursday night's game in Salem-Keizer, the Vancouver Canadians extended their current winning streak to three games with an impressive 6-4 victory out at Volcanoes Stadium.

After falling behind 4-1, the Canadians would score three runs in the top of the 8^th inning to draw even with C Michael Reeves (Peterborough, ON) hitting a two-run double that scored both RF Brenden Kalfus and 1B Justin Atkinson (Surrey, B.C.).

The Canadians would grab their first lead of the night in the top of the 9^th inning plating a pair of runs off of Salem-Keizer closer RHP Raymondo Montero. 2B Andy Fermin pounded a ball to the center field wall that pushed both CF Ronnie Melendez and PH Shaun Valeriote (Guelph, ON) across to put Vancouver within three outs of a victory.

Four Canadians pitchers combined on the victory with LHP Kyle Anderson carrying the bulk of the load. The native of Santa Cruz, CA went 5 2/3 innings striking out six before turning the ball over to the Vancouver bullpen. The combination of RHP Tim Brechbuehler, RHP Markus Brisker and RHP Jon Kountis would go the final 3 1/3 innings allowing just a pair of hits whiles striking out seven more Volcanoes hitters to secure the Canadians third straight win. Kountis would record three strikeouts to record his first professional save in the bottom of the 9^th inning.

With the 6-4 decision, Vancouver improves to 4-3 (.571) on the season and moves to within 1 ½ games of idle Everett who was rained out at home on Thursday. The loss, drops Salem-Keizer to 5-2 (.714) on the summer, maintaining top spot in the realigned South Division.

Game two of this five-game series gets underway at 6:35pm on Friday, June 21^st as RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski (0-0, 1.50) tries to extend the Canadians winning streak to a season-high four games.

Vancouver Canadians Baseball returns to Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday, June 28^th at 7:05pm as the Canadians open up a six-game home stand welcoming both Tri-City (June 28-30) and Everett (July 1-3).

Tickets to any of these games can be purchased by calling 604.872.5232 or by visiting the Nat Bailey Stadium Box Office at 4601 Ontario Street, Vancouver, B.C.