It took the Boise Hawks a while to get their offense going, but once it did, six-consecutive two-out hits in a season-high seven-run eighth inning outburst to take a 10-7 victory over rival Salem-Keizer on Thursday night.

The big blast in the frame was a monster three-run home run over the video boarfrom Richard Jones, a blast that skipper Jody Davis told me after the game went probably 480 feet – with the ball found against the fence separating the ball park from Interstate 5.

Jones had his second three-hit game, while Matt Szczur logged his first three-hit game as a professional, extending his hit streak to seven games.  Alvaro Ramirez had two hits, pushing his hit streak to a NWL best 14 games – the longest active streak in the short season leagues and the second-longest streak in the short season leagues this season.

NOTES: Cam Greathouse made his Hawks debut in the shadows of Oregon’s state capitol (pictured right during one of my runs through the city) – but seemed to rely on his curve ball a bit too much, in fact, he threw 24 curve balls of the 39 pitches in his two-plus innings of work…the sacrifice fly by Ramirez that scored Arismendy Alcantara in the ninth inning marked the first time that Boise has scored a run in the ninth this season.

The Hawks won two games at Volcanoes Stadium for the first time since the 2006 season and are gunning for their first series win against S-K on their diamond since the 2003 season – when Sean Marshall and three relievers combined on a five hitter in the rubber game of the series, defeating the Volcanoes (and future big leaguers Travis Ishikawa, Nate Schierholtz, and Pat Misch) 3-0.