From where the team was on Thursday night to today, it is a complete 180-degree turn, as the Hawks used a couple of big innings, capitalizing on three Yakima errors to claim a 9-5 victory over the Bears – their third win in a row.

What is amazing is the fact that if the Hawks can pick up a win tomorrow night, they would head home with a 4-4 record on the road swing – which isn’t an easy thing to do in the Northwest League.

Tonight’s heroes came in different places – at the plate it was Jose Guevara and Bobby Wagner.  Guevara, who was hitting just .088 before his call-up from Mesa, had a pair of doubles, including a two-run smash in the eighth inning to push the lead to 7-2, while Wagner had a two-run double as part of a four-run fifth, then hit his second home run of the season in the ninth for insurance.  On the mound, Trey McNutt battled some control issues – two walks and two hit by pitches, but pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, followed by Corey Martin, who pitched three scoreless innings, retiring eight-straight batters at one point.

COUNTY STADIUM: The Hawks will make a second trip here to County Stadium (here is a look at the view from the press box) to open up the 12-game swing as the Western Idaho Fair takes over Memorial Stadium.  The park has one of the more impressive grills in the league – from Philly Cheesesteaks, to chicken, to burgers – or the 16-inch hot dogs (pictured to the right) that they sell for a dollar on Friday nights.  Last season, the grill staff made a great concoction for me – 3/4 root beer, 1/4 lemonade (doesn’t sound great, until you try it…it is pretty good).

WHAT I DO BEFORE A GAME: With my family in town and an afternoon start, I had some time to kill before the game – so I decided to play with bubbles with my son, PJ, at County Stadium, which was a blast.  PJ had the play of the night, as he retrieved a foul ball off Wagner’s bat in the first inning – one more foul ball than his dad has at a game as a fan.  He then spent the rest of the night chasing around the Bears mascot, Boomer (pictured with the Safford boys).

THE BACON: Dionis Nunez allowed three runs in the ninth inning tonight, the first time in eight appearances that the right-hander had allowed a run, dating back to mid-July…Greg Rohan extended his hitting streak to a career-high six games with a single…the Iowa Cubs and Las Vegas 51s played their Road to Wrigley game at Wrigley Field today – with former Boise Hawk Blake Parker picking up the save for the I-Cubs…former Hawk, Brian Dopirak, with the 51s, went 1-for-4…the Hawks have won 7-of-8 from Yakima this season.