Gm 29: C's win slugfest in Boise, remain in share of lead in North

(Memorial Stadium - Boise, ID) - For both 2B Nick Podkul and 1B Jake Brodt it will be a night they won't soon forget as both Canadians infielders hit their first professional home runs, two-run shots, to help power Vancouver past Boise in a Saturday night slugfest out at Memorial Stadium.
After managing just two hits on Friday night, Vancouver came storming back offensively on Saturday with a dozen hits including three from RF Griffin Conine who started his night 3-for-3 with a double, his 7th of the season. 1B Jake Brodt's home run, a tall-towering shot over the center field fence cashed in Conine fresh off his double to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead while Podkul's first pro home run helped extend the Vancouver lead to 5-1 in the top of the 3rd inning.
The Hawks would come battling back with a pair of runs in both the bottom of the 5th and 6th innings respectively as it was a tough night for the usually reliable RHP Denis Diaz who allowed four earned runs on seven hits over his two innings of work. Diaz started the night with an ERA of 0.82 over his first seven appearances but saw that number balloon to 3.46 by night's end.
With the game tied at 5-5, it was the former Notre Dame Fightin' Irish standout that broke the tie for Vancouver as 2B Nick Podkul slammed a ball over the left field fence in the top of the 7th inning, scoring C Yorman Rodriguez as well to help grab the C's second lead of the night. Vancouver would tack on another run in the top of the 8th inning when RF Otto Lopez punched one back up the middle bringing home CF Hunter Steinmetz to give the Canadians a not-so-comfortable 8-5 lead.
The bottom of the 8th proved to be the final battle ground as Boise threw everything they had at Vancouver producing a pair of runs to bring the game to within a run. Fourth-year Boise Hawks 1B Luis Castro found an RBI single in the 8th to bump his season average to .348 and was followed by a RBI ground out before RHP Cobi Johnson buckled down to strikeout Jeff Bohling to end the threat leaving Danny Edgeworth, the game's tying run just 90-feet away at third base.
LHP Hunter Williams came into pitch the top of the 9th inning and proceeded to hit C Yorman Rodriguez who would eventually come around to score on a Jake Brodt groundout to make it a 9-7 Canadians lead.
Boise would load the bases with just one-out in the bottom of the 9th inning with RHP Cobi Johnson on the mound but managed to get SS Terrin Vavra to ground out back to the mound for the second out (Vavra hit a walk-off grand slam back on Thursday) before 1B Luis Castro drove in a run to bring it to within a run once more cashing in C Hidekel Gonzalez with a base hit up the middle. Danny Edgeworth (hitting .457 with runners in scoring position) stepped up with two outs and struck out on a questionable third strike call to end the game.
With the win, Vancouver (15-14, .517) remains in a share of top spot in the North Division alongside Everett who topped Salem-Keizer back at Memorial Stadium in Everett, WA. Tri-City fell two games back in the North while Spokane continues to hang around just four games back with nine to play after a victory ove Eugene out at Avista Stadium. Boise falls to 16-13 (.552), five games back of South Division leading Hillsboro who improved to 21-8 (.724).
Note: The Canadians are one home run shy of matching their home run total from 2017 and have played 47 fewers games...
Vancouver wraps up this five-game series on Sunday, July 15th at 3:15pm pacific as the rubber match will feature Canadians RHP Jose Espada (1-3, 5.24) looking for his