Tonight the Yakima Bears come to Salem to take on the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. Both teams look to turn around there first half struggles and make a push for this half season’s playoff spot.
The Volcanoes have put there two 8 game losing streaks behind them and have shown a lot of improvement on the field. In their last 11 games the Volcanoes are 9-2. Although the offense has played well all season long, the main reason for the recent winning ways is due to the development of the pitching staff. Each of the five starters for the Volcanoes have been giving the team quality starts and keeping the games close enough for the offense to take over.
The starters aren’t the only pieces of the pitching staff doing well. The middle relievers have begun to demonstrate that they are more then capable to holding teams, and Phil McCormick has continued to throw the ball well when called on at the end of games.
The Bears have had their struggles this season having an overall record of 13-26. However, this team is still a threat to take the series against the Volcanoes. When these two teams last faced each other two weeks ago the Bears won 3 of the 5 games, and held the Volcanoes offense in check in each of those 3 wins.
The Bears will send John Pedrotty to the mound. Pedrotty hasn’t allowed a home run this season but if the Bears want to win Pedrotty will have to cut down on the number of walks he gives up. The Volcanoes are a strong hitting team and giving them extra base runners to work with only makes things more challenging.
Starting for the Volcanoes is Reinier Roibal. Despite having very good starts in four of his last five games Roibal is still with out a win to his credit. If he can keep the ball down in the zone and get some run support from his offense tonight might be his first win of the season.
Bears Keys to the Game:
*Make the Volcanoes earn runs. Walks and errors will lead to big innings for the Volcanoes.
*Be aggressive on the base paths. The Bears are last in stolen bases in the league and if they want to score runs they will need to change that.
Volcanoes Keys to the Game:
*Don’t depend on the big inning, score whenever you can. The Volcanoes have needed big innings to win a few of their games but they can’t depend on that all the time. Playing small ball is some times needed.
*Stay under control defensively. The Bears are not a base stealing team, nor are they a home run hitting team, so their runs come from base hits and taking advantage of opportunities. Solid defense will limit those opportunities.
Bears Lineup
1. Westley Moss CF
2. Garrett Weber 2b
3. Carter Bell 3b
4. Zach Ones C
5. Marc Bourgeois LF
6. David Narodowski SS
7. Tyler Bream 1b
8. Justin Hilt RF
9. Kerry Jenkins DH
Volcanoes Lineup
1. Jesus Galindo CF
2. Joe Panik SS
3. Brett Krill RF
4. Mike Murray DH
5. Joe Staley C
6. Chuckie Jone LF
7. Gararett Buechele 3b
8. Danny Brock 1b
9. John Eshleman 2b