FARGO, N.D. – Alex Boxwell hit his first professional home run in the seventh inning and the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (9-15) followed it up with two RBI doubles later in the frame to beat the St. Paul Saints (10-13) by a score of 4-2 on Wednesday night in front of 1,194 fans at Newman Outdoor Field.
St. Paul got on the board first with two runs on four hits in the second inning against RedHawks starter John Anderson (1-1, 4.37 ERA) before the RedHawks answered back in the third with an RBI single from Correlle Prime that scored Brennan Metzger from third base. Metzger took advantage of two Saints errors on one play to get from first base to third before coming around to score.
The RedHawks could have tied the game in the third when Dario Pizzano flew out to center for the second out with Trey Hair ready to tag on third base, but the would-be sacrifice fly became the first half of a double play when St. Paul center fielder Mikey Reynolds caught Correlle Prime trying to tag from first to second. Home plate umpire Jeff Head ruled that the RedHawks’ run had not scored when Prime was tagged out at second base. The 8-4 double play ended the inning and kept the score at 2-1 in favor of St. Paul.
Boxwell’s home run ignited a three-run inning for Fargo-Moorhead in the fifth that ultimately provided the winning runs. Metzger followed up Boxwell’s homer with a single, Hair brought him in with an RBI double, and then Pizzano brought him home with an RBI double of his own to give the ‘Hawks a 4-2 lead.
Anderson picked up the victory for the RedHawks after giving up two runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings tonight. He struck out five Saints batters and walked two to earn his first win with Fargo-Moorhead.
Fargo-Moorhead’s bullpen pitched 3.1 innings of shutout baseball to finish the game in relief of Anderson. Brent Jones (1-0, 2.63 ERA) and Tyler Wilson (0-1, 9.00 ERA) came on to pitch the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, and Mitchell Osnowitz (1-0, 3.85 ERA) earned his seventh save of the year by pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Jordan Patterson made two spectacular catches for the RedHawks in right field tonight, including a diving grab down the line that ended the top half of the sixth inning and stopped two St. Paul runs from scoring and tying the game.
Mike Devine (1-3, 4.08 ERA) earned the loss tonight for the Saints after giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits in five innings of work for St. Paul. He walked four batters and struck out five in his fifth start of the season.
With the win, the RedHawks clinch their second series win of the year. Fargo-Moorhead will wrap up its series with the Saints on Thursday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. The RedHawks are scheduled to start LHP Tyler Pike (1-2, 3.48 ERA) against St. Paul RHP Ryan Zimmerman (1-1, 3.90 ERA).
