Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

Dust Devils go to 11-2 after Bowman caps rally in 9th

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

PASCO -- The Colorado Rockies will face some tough decisions in the next few weeks.

The parent club of the Tri-City Dust Devils must decide which players to keep on the roster and which will be released.

Bo Bowman might have made that decision a little easier Thur-sday night at Gesa Stadium, bouncing a two-run single into right field to cap a four-run, ninth-inning rally to give the Dust Devils a 6-5 win over the Boise Hawks.

"I could get released any day, but I'm hoping to stick around," said Bowman, a third-year infielder from Gering, Neb.

Bowman came up to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded with Tri-City trailing 5-4.

Boise reliever Joe Simokaitis was brought in to face Bowman, a left-hander who was hitless in his four previous at bats.

"I was struggling all night," Bowman said. "I had two strikes on me. I was hoping he'd come in on me and I could put the ball in play."

The victory was Tri-Cities' (11-2) fifth straight and kept the team undefeated in eight games against its East Division rivals.

The outlook was bleak for Tri-City, which trailed 5-2 heading into the ninth with the bottom of its lineup coming to the plate. But Dallas Tarleton singled off Hawks reliever Yohan Gonzalez to lead off the inning, and Leonardo Reyes reached first on an error by shortstop Hak-Ju Lee -- his fourth of the game.

"That error was a big play," said Dust Devils manager Fred Ocasio. "It basically brought the tying run to the plate and gave us three chances to score."

Joey Wong flied out to center, but Tim Wheeler followed with an RBI single to right to score Tarleton and cut the lead to 5-3. Kevin Clark then drew a walk to load the bases, bringing up one of the league's most dangerous hitters in Kent Matthes.

But Gonzalez hit Matthes to bring in Reyes and cut the lead to 5-4. That set the stage for Bowman, who came through with the game-winner.

"There's no quit in this team," Ocasio said. "We've won 11 games, and in five or six of them we've been down. Their pitching helped us a little bit."

Gonzalez took the loss for Boise, allowing four runs -- three earned -- on two hits in just one-third of an inning.

Tri-City starter Brad McAtee struggled through the first two innings but settled down in the third and fourth innings. McAtee allowed four earned runs on five hits through four innings. He walked five and had two wild pitches. He now leads the NWL with 12 walks and six wild pitches.

But three Dust Devils relievers combined to shut down the Hawks over the final five innings, allowing a run on just three hits. Rod Scurry picked up his first win this season with two scoreless innings.

Boise continued its struggles against Tri-City, suffering its fifth straight loss to the Dust Devils.

"I don't really know what to say," said Hawks manager Casey Kopitzke. "You've just got to keep going out every day. I don't think you can pinpoint any one thing tonight. We have to put our finger in the dam and keep moving forward."

Orlando Sandoval hit his first home run of the season for Tri-City, a two-run shot to left in the second inning that cut the lead to 4-2.

NOTES: Hawks starter Su-Min Jung left the game with one out in the bottom of the third inning. He threw one pitch to Matthes and reached up to his right shoulder in pain. After a visit from Boise trainer Dan Golden, Jung threw one warmup pitch and doubled over in pain. ... Fewer than 1,000 tickets remain for tonight's series finale against Boise. A fireworks display will follow the contest at Gesa Stadium since Tri-City will play at Salem-Keizer on July 4.