Volcanoes Rally Yet Again to Down Emeralds, 5-4

Home runs in first and fourteenth inning power Salem-Keizer to series-clinching victory.

The Volcanoes' bullpen tossed eight scoreless innings allowing just one hit, and Fernando Pujadas led off the 14th inning with a home run to left field, as the Volcanoes topped the Eugene Emeralds 5-4 in 14 innings. Photo Courtesy: David Barker Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

(EUGENE, Ore. ) - The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes have made late-inning magic a regular occurrence thus far in 2014, and they continued the trend Friday night at PK Park.

The Volcanoes' bullpen tossed eight scoreless innings allowing just one hit, and Fernando Pujadas led off the 14th inning with a home run to left field, as the Volcanoes topped the Eugene Emeralds 5-4 in 14 innings.

For Fernando Pujadas, it was his first home run of the season.

Having been outscored 20-4 in the first inning by their opponents this season, the Volcanoes finally took their turn out shooting out to a quick start. Tyler Hollick started the game off with a single to center field. He was safe at second on a fielder's choice attempt, putting runners on second and first with nobody out.

Craig Massoni delivered the big blow in the inning. With two on and one out, he crushed a first-pitch fastball into the Volcanoes' bullpen in left field for the 3-0 lead.

Not to be outdone, Eugene delivered a big blast of its own. Franchy Cordero delivered a blast over the left-center field wall to make it a 3-2.

A key defensive miscue led to another run for the Volcanoes in the fourth inning. With Will Callaway on second base, Brett Kay hit an infield single to second base.

Attempting to throw Kay out at first, a glove flip from Cory Spangenberg sailed past the base and into the Emeralds dugout.

Trailing 4-2 after the throwing error, Eugene knotted things up with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame on three hits.

Forjet finished the night with eight strikeouts, a season-high for a Volcanoes' pitcher. He allowed four runs in five innings.

Armando Paniagua navigated Salem-Keizer out of trouble in multiple occasions throughout his three-inning relief outing. With a runner on third and just one out in the sixth, Paniagua struck out the next two batters etire the side.

He worked his way out of trouble once again in the eighth inning. A controversial missed-tag ruling placed runners on second and third with just one out. However, Paniagua induced a ground out followed by a strike out to preserve the 4-4 tie.

Both clubs had promising opportunities to put runs on the board late in the game, but the pitching was simply too overpowering for the offenses.

Salem-Keizer pitchers combined to strike out 22 batters, while Eugene fanned 20. The 42 combined strike outs shattered a Northwest League single-game record, which previously stood at 37 set by Everett and Tri-City in 2010.

After unsuccessfully capitalizing on a scoring opportunity in the 13th inning, the Volcanoes took the lead on one swing of the bat in the top of the 14th. Fernando Pujadas led off the inning with a deep drive to left, scoring the go-ahead run that led Salem-Keizer to the 5-4 win in 14 innings.

The Volcanoes bullpen once again dominated in the latter innings. After Forjet gave way to Armando Paniagua in the sixth inning, the bullpen combined four 14 strikeouts in nine shutout innings.

Up next: Winners of their second consecutive series, the Volcanoes attempt to claim their first sweep of the 2014 season on Saturday, as they take on the Eugene Emeralds. Drew Leenhouts will toe the rubber for the Volcanoes, coming off of his best outing of the year against Everett, pitching six complete innings of shutout baseball.

Source: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes