With a commanding 6-3 win over the Tri-City Dust Devils (5-10)
Thursday night, the Boise Hawks moved into a tie for third place in the
Northwest League East Division, and will look to complete the sweep with Austin
Kirk on the mound, in front of an anticipated sold out crowd at Memorial
Stadium tonight.

Still, the Hawks (5-10) sit four games behind the division
leading Bears, who, are on pace to capture the final playoff position in the
East.

Clearly the second half of the season hasn’t started out as
planned but with the amount of roster moves made by the Chicago Cubs (Matthew
Szczur led the Hawks in hitting during his 18 games in Boise with a .397
batting average), consistency can be hard to come by.

The only people keeping this sinking ship afloat for the fifth
worst offensive team in the NWL: Alvaro Ramirez and Pierre LePage.

Since arriving in Boise from his home in Wolcott, Conn.,
LePage, 21, has had nothing but success for the Hawks. In 42 games, the little
man with high hopes is second on the team in the majority of offensive categories;
behind only Ramirez.

Ramirez is now in his fifth season in the Chicago Cubs
organization, but has yet to be promoted higher than Class-A Boise for more
than 12 games. He now leads the team in average, hits, runs, plate appearances,
stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus
slugging).

In last night’s game, Ramirez went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while
making a pair of jaw dropping catches in right field. LePage also went 2-for-4,
but showed off his speed with a stolen base.

Each of these players have voiced themselves as leaders on
the team not with their screaming or intricate handshakes, but with their
hustle and everyday love for the game, though neither has seen any love from
scouting director, Tim Wilkins, and his team.

Though it would pain me to see them leave, Ramirez and
LePage don’t deserve to be in Boise, and, if they return next season, questions
should be asked of the Cubs’ scouting “genius.”

With only 12 home games left in the season, Hawks fans are
running out of time to see possibly two of the best players to call Boise home.