It was a long, long night in many ways for the Boise Hawks – watching a 5-0 lead evaporate in a 10-8 loss to Salem-Keizer, then having to hop onto a bus for the 438 mile trek to Springfield, Ore., and the Shilo Inn (pictured to the left).

Things looked great through five innings, the Hawks chased Jorge Bucardo – the same pitcher that took a no-hitter into the sixth against Boise in June, with a Justin Bour two-run double (audio highlight –
bour2B.wma)pushing the lead to 5-0.  Robert Hernandez was dominant through five, striking out five and allowing just two hits.  Unfortunately, the bullpen didn’t cooperate.

Yohan Gonzalez allowed three inherited runs to score in the sixth inning, then could not get an out in the seven – with Corey Martin struggling as well, along with a pair of errors that led to a seven-run outburst, as the Hawks watched the series victory slip through their fingers.

THE TRIP: The trip to Eugene was a little different, as skipper Casey Kopitzke did not travel with the team, instead making the trek with his wife.  Joining the club on the trip was Mike Sharp, our HAM insider and editor of (http://sharpfocus.mlblogs.com/) – who will get to see what life is on the road. 
We watched only one movie, Push, about people with genetic abilities…I really didn’t get into the flick.  Nothing was open in Burns, Ore., so we rolled on to Bend, Ore., the old home of the Bend Rockies – where we had a pit stop at 4:15 a.m.  The team finally rolled into our digs at the Shilo Inn here in Springfield around 7 a.m.

THE BACON: With the 3-2 series loss to Salem-Keizer, the Hawks have yet to win a series from the Volcanoes since 2002…Brett Jackson reached base in his 18th-straight game, while Bour extended his hitting streak to five with a 2-for-3 game…Logan Watkins went 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, extending his hitting streak to 14 games – the third-longest streak this year in the league…both Richard Jones and Runey Davis ended long hitless droughts – Jones ending an 0-for-19 slump with two singles, and Davis ending a 0-for-9 slump with a bunt single…Jose Valdez wishes that S-K was still in town, as the speedster went 10-for-16 in the series…Hernandez had the longest start of the season for the Hawks, going five and a third innings – the fourth time he has tossed five or more innings this year.

ALUMNI NOTES: Ricky Nolasco pitched a three-hit shutout last night for the Florida Marlins, blanking the San Diego Padres, 5-0, pushing his record to 7-7.

INTERVIEWS INTERVIEWS, INTERVIEWS: I have finally edited the audio files of six more Hawk Talk Player Profile segments – including Logan Watkins (
watkinsHT.wma), Danny Keefe (
KeefeHT.wma), Josh Whitlock (
whitlockHT.wma), Greg Rohan (
rohanHT.wma), Ryan Sontag (
sontagHT.wma), and Robert Whitenack (
whitenackHT.wma).