Sioux Falls 10, Winnipeg 7 – Box
Sioux Falls DH Tim Pahuta (pictured) may have had only two hits, but he made them count. Pahuta went deep twice, hitting a grand slam in the third and a solo shot in the fifth, as the Canaries beat Winnipeg, 10-7. The Sioux Falls designated hitter finished the night 2-for-5 with five RBI. While he led the team in production, Pahuta also had some help. Four other Canaries had multi-hit games, including Jake Taylor. The second baseman led the Canaries in hits on a 3-for-4 night with one RBI.
Fargo-Moorhead 5, Lincoln 4 (10 innings) – Box
In his first game with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, LF Tyler Graham played the hero role. The RedHawks were tied with Lincoln in the bottom of the tenth, when Graham hit a sacrifice fly to center. Tim Alberts tagged up from third and scored the winning run as Fargo-Moorhead beat Lincoln, 5-4. Graham’s sac-fly ended a game that had been suspended yesterday in the top of the fourth.
Before rain halted play on Tuesday, Fargo-Moorhead had taken an early lead with four runs in the bottom of the second. But, Lincoln bounced back. Saltdogs 1B Ian Gac hit a two-run home run in the third to pull his club within one. After play resumed today, the Saltdogs tied the score on a wild pitch in the sixth. The 4-4 score held until Fargo-Moorhead loaded the bases in the 10th and Graham came through for a RedHawks win.
Lincoln 2, Fargo-Moorhead 1 (7 innings) – Box
The second game of a quasi-doubleheader between Lincoln and Fargo-Moorhead was well-pitched to say the least. The clubs yielded a combined three runs on seven hits, but Lincoln came out on top, 2-1. Lincoln’s game-deciding offensive frame came in the fourth, as the Saltdogs took advantage of two RedHawks defensive miscues to score a pair of runs. Saltdogs LF Matt Forgatch drove home the winning run with an RBI single that scored 2B David Espinosa. On the mound, LHP Moises Melendez notched his first win of the year. The southpaw pitched five innings, allowing one run on four hits.
Amarillo 9, Gary SouthShore 8 – Box
The Sox and the RailCats went back and forth all night, but Jason Martin’s eighth-inning RBI double won the game for Amarillo, 9-8. Amarillo had not led in the game until Martin’s double, but battled from behind to tie the game twice. In the sixth, the Sox trailed by two until Cory Patton and Trey Ford hit RBI doubles to knot the score at 6-6. Gary SouthShore took the lead back in the top of the seventh, but Amarillo tied it again in the bottom half of the inning. David Peralta hit an RBI triple to pull within one and Joe Weik hit a game-tying single to center. The game remained tied at 8-8 until Martin broke the deadlock with the double that ultimately decided the game.
Wichita 5, El Paso 4 – Box
They did not strike until late, but the Wichita Wingnuts erased a three-run deficit to beat El Paso on a walk-off double by 3B Abel Nieves in the bottom of the ninth. Wichita got the 5-4 win, but the Wingnuts trailed the Diablos 4-1 going into the seventh. The Wingnuts began to chip away at the deficit with a Ryan Khoury sacrifice fly in the seventh. In the eighth, Wichita knotted the score on an RBI double by Colt Loehrs and a sac fly by David Amberson. Nieves’ game-winning double scored John Rodriguez from second with two outs in the ninth.
Laredo 12, Grand Prairie 11 (12 innings) – Box
Laredo nearly let it all slip away, but eventually came out on top in 12 innings, 12-11. The Lemurs led by eight going into the ninth, but Grand Prairie mounted a tremendous comeback, capped by a game-tying grand slam off the bat of SS Ryan Pineda. The AirHogs trailed 11-3, but scored four runs before Pineda sent the game to extra innings in dramatic fashion.
Both clubs were shut down in the 10th and 11th innings, but Laredo rallied behind Harrison Kain and Jimmy Mojica in the 12th. Kain hit a one-out single, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout to put the go-ahead run 90 feet from home. After an intentional walk to Sawyer Carroll put runners on the corners with two outs, John Allen drove Kain home with a double to re-take the lead for Laredo. Carroll was thrown out at home on the play, as he tried to add an insurance run, but Kain’s run was enough to capture the win for the Lemurs.
