Links   E-mail             Print              Comments Advertisement

YAKIMA -- One good hero deserves another, it seems.

At least it worked out that way Wednesday night at Yakima County Stadium where the Bears, carried early by Collin Cowgill's three homers, scored three runs in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat Spokane, 9-8.

The other hero? Ryan Babineau, who hammered a two-out double to the gap in right-center field to score Alfredo Marte from third and Andrew Fie from first.

Cowgill had also figured in the rally, starting the inning with a single and scoring on Fie's base hit.

Before those fireworks, which preceded the Bears' pre-July 4 celebration before a near-capacity crowd of 2,546, Yakima's outlook seemed bleak.

The Indians (11-5) had scored two runs in the top of the inning -- one on right-fielder Roberto Rodriguez's two-base throwing error and
another on an ensuing sacrifice fly.

But Cowgill, who'd hit two-run homers in the third and fifth before sending the game to extra innings with a leadoff shot in the bottom of the ninth, started the Bears' comeback with a single to left.

The homers, his eighth, ninth and 10th of the season, tied a team and stadium record set, interestingly, on July 2, 1999 by Lamont Matthews en route to his Bears' short-season mark of 17.

Cowgill has homered six times in five days, dating back to hitting two in a 14-0 blowout Saturday night at Boise. He followed with a solo shot Tuesday night before exploding Wednesday.

Not only do his homers lead the league, his 24 RBI also rank first.

Yakima's victory snapped a three-game losing streak, and the Bears (7-9) also had lost five of six. They improved to 3-6 in one-run games entering tonight's game at Everett, the first of five against the AquaSox.

The Indians, who had won four straight, slipped to 11-5.

After Spokane had scored twice in the top of the ninth for a 6-5 lead, completing their comeback from a 5-1 deficit, the Indians seemed stunned when Cowgill tied it.

As the ball soared toward the right-center field fence, right-fielder Joey Butler took a couple of steps toward it, then stopped and threw his head back in disgust.

The Bears had turned a one-run lead over to closer Bryan Woodall, but Spokane's Jared Bolden erased it in a hurry with a leadoff homer to right.

The next hitter, Jason Ogata, was hit by a pitch, and after Butler skied to right, Justin Pickett pushed a textbook hit-and-run single through the hole at second, with Ogata taking third. Ogata would eventually score on a passed ball.