Dollander Delivers As Spokane Bats Stay Hot 

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- Through four innings Friday, Hillsboro starting pitcher Avery Short had more strikeouts than Spokane's Chase Dollander, the Northwest League's top prospect and strikeout leader.

The similarities ended there. Short's night ended one batter later. The southpaw departed after a leadoff double in the fifth inning with Spokane (29-22) already leading 4-0. The Hops (26-27) got little going against the hard-throwing righty Dollander, while the Indians continued to mash on the way to an 8-1 win in front of nearly 6,000 fans at Avista Stadium.

One night after the Hops surrendered a season-high 15 hits, the Tribe collected a dozen more, including solo home runs by Kyle Karros and Cole Carrigg. Dollander (2-1) completed seven innings on the hill, striking out eight with one walk, while allowing just five singles and an unearned run.

After two shutout starts in a row, Short (2-4) kept the Indians off the board for all of two batters. Carrigg led off the bottom of the first with a hit, but was caught stealing. After Jack Blomgren struck out, Karros launched a 3-1 Short pitch over the center field fence for his fourth home run of the season.

Two innings later, Karros was at it again. Short walked the eight and nine hitters in the order to open the third. After a sac bunt and a sac fly, Karros laced a single to left to drive in another run. Juan Guerrero followed with a triple to plate Karros and the rout was on.

The Hops plugged Jean Walters into the leadoff spot and the super utility man smashed a single to right center on Dollander's first pitch of the game. But the 2023 first-rounder out of Tennessee set down the next ten Hops batters wtih five strikeouts before a one-out walk of Andrew Pintar in the fourth.

The Hops led off the fifth inning with a Kevin Sim base hit, but after Gavin Logan struck out, the Indians turned s superb double play. Robbie Martin, Jr., an outfielder who happened to be playing first base, handled a hot shot grounder off Jose Fernandez's bat from a knee, threw to second for the force on Sim as Dollander raced to first to receive the return throw from Blomgren.

Short fanned the side in order in the second and retired the side with two more strikeouts in the fourth, but departed after Jean Perez doubled to right center to open the fifth inning. The southpaw, who entered the game with a league-best 1.69 ERA, allowed five earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. He advanced on a grounder to the right side and scored on Blomgren's second consecutive sac fly.

The Indians added on with four consecutive base hits off Alec Baker in the sixth inning and Carrigg opened the seventh with his team-leading fifth home run to cap the scoring.

Hillsboro got its only run in the sixth inning. With runners at first and second and two outs, Gavin Conticello hit a chopper to deep second base. Jean Perez's throw got past Martin at first for an error ans Jack Hurley raced home from second.

Andrew Pintar reached base three times for the Hops with a pair of hits and a walk and Sim singled twice.

Karros finished with three hits for the second consecutive night. With two more runs batted in, the former UCLA Bruin third baseman pushed his league-leading RBI total to 36. Martin reached base three times with two hits and a walk, driving in one and scoring one run.

With the series now tied at two games apiece, the teams return to the field Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 6:20 on Rip City Radio 620 AM.