Forjet Fans 11 in Volcanoes Win over Spokane

Sanchez tied a baseball record with four strikeouts in the ninth inning.

Howling winds out to left showed promise of an offensive night at Volcanoes Stadium, but Jason Forjet quickly rewrote the story as he struck out 11 Spokane batters en route to a 5-2 Volcanoes victory on Wednesday night. Photo Courtesy: David Baker Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

(KEIZER, Ore. ) - Howling winds out to left showed promise of an offensive night at Volcanoes Stadium, but Jason Forjet quickly rewrote the story as he struck out 11 Spokane batters en route to a 5-2 Volcanoes victory on Wednesday night.

"Today I had my breaking ball working for me, and I was throwing my fastball to both sides of the plate," Forjet said. "Usually I'm a contact guy, but when you have so many guys off balance and you're throwing all your pitches for strikes, swing and misses happen, strike outs happen, and tonight was just one of those nights."

Spokane got on the board first in the top of the second. After the first eight hitters of the ballgame were sent back to the bench, Indians center fielder Zach Cone launched a massive homerun over the scoreboard in left-center field.

The following frame, Saquan Johnson made the score 2-0 as he took Forjet deep with another blast over the left-center wall. Through three innings Forjet had only allowed two base runners, both of which were able to touch them all on balls over the wall.

The Volcanoes took one back in the bottom of the third. An absolute bomb off the bat of Shilo McCall made its way over the left field wall and out of the stadium to shrink Spokane's lead to one run.

McCall's moon shot wet the appetite of the Salem-Keizer offense, as they rallied for three runs in the following frame. Skyler Ewing began the inning with a walk and Sam Mende drove him in as he drilled a double into right center.

T Relaford followed with a single to knock in Mende, and Will Callaway pushed Relaford to third with a single of his own. The third run scored off of a Fernando Pujadas sacrifice fly. After four innings, the Volcanoes lead the Indians 4-2.

Meanwhile, Forjet was dominating the Spokane offense. Despite the two long balls, Forjet only allowed five hits and two runs through his six and two-third innings. More impressively, Forjet racked up a career high 11 strikeouts and did not walk a single hitter.

"I have to give credit to my catcher Pujadas, we were on the same page all night and it was great throwing to him," Forjet said.

Salem-Keizer tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a Callaway single and a two out McCall RBI double.

No more runs would score, as Cameron McVey and All-Star Eury Sanchez shut down Spokane in the late innings to give the Volcanoes a 5-2 win.

Forjet topped his previous career high by three with a dominant 11-strikeout performance. He was one strikeout shy of tying the franchise record.

Shilo McCall finished the evening 2-3 with a homerun and an RBI double.

Sanchez tied a baseball record with four strikeouts in the ninth inning.

Up Next: The Volcanoes look to remain undefeated in the second half as Drew Leenhouts will toe the rubber in game three against the Spokane Indians.

Source: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes