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LITTLE FALLS, NJ – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks jumped out to a 7-0 lead behind the bat of Joe Dunigan and defeated the New Jersey Jackals 9-6 in front of 721 fans at Yogi Berra Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The RedHawks put numbers on the board first. Joe Staley got the frame going with a single followed by Ryan Pineda, who was acquired just last night in a trade for Frank Salerno. Dunigan followed by taking the second pitch he saw from starter Anthony Claggett to the fence in right field making it 3-0 Fargo-Moorhead with one crack of the bat. The Hawks weren’t done in the frame, however. Frazier Hall proceeded to single followed by a double from Tyler Peterson. Drew Muren would collect an RBI single for the fifth hit in a row off Claggett making it 4-0. Zach Penprase would ground out to short then scoring Peterson making it 5-0 after two innings.

The Hawks would touch the former major leaguer Claggett again in the third. Joe Bonfe and Staley led off with back-to-back singles that gave Fargo-Moorhead runners on the corners with nobody out. What happened next will not show up in the stats but a heads up play nonetheless. Pineda sent a sharp chopper to third base and Bonfe found himself in a run down on the third base path. He kept the pickle going long enough for Pineda and Staley to advance to second and third, respectively.  Joe Dunigan laced a single scoring Staley and advancing Pineda to third right after the Bonfe rundown. Hall proceeded to fly out to deep center plating Pineda making it 7-0 after the top half of the third.

Ty Kelley started on the bump for the RedHawks. Making his second start and 24^th appearance, Kelley was toeing a familiar rubber, as he spent the 2014 season with New Jersey. The Jackals got to Kelley in the home half of the third, as Gomez led off with a single followed by a two-run homer from Mark Threlkeld two batters later making it 7-2.

Both pitching staffs seemed to be affected by the heat on Sunday afternoon. What local meteorologists described as oppressive heat, temperatures were flaring in the mid-90’s with a heat index over 100 degrees.

New Jersey added another run in the fourth. Justin Trapp led off with a single and would later be brought in on a sac fly from Peter Mooney cutting the lead to 7-3.

Joe Dunigan’s homecoming to New Jersey was not quite over. The right-fielder, who was the Can-Am’s home run King in 2014 while playing for the Jackals, led off the top of the sixth by rocketing the first offering of the inning to the batters’ eye in straightaway center making it 8-3 RedHawks.

The Jackals would respond in the seventh. Leandro Castro would single and score on a Jamal Austin triple sent down the line in right cutting the lead in half 8-4.

The RedHawks would add an insurance run in the on a Tyler Peterson sacrifice fly plating Joe Staley making it 9-4 in favor of Fargo-Moorhead.

Benji Waite came on in relief for Kelley in the seventh and gave up the one run on the Austin RBI triple in the seventh. He was looking to go for a three-inning relief appearance in the bottom of the ninth holding a 9-4 lead, but New Jersey got to the right-hander. After striking out the leadoff man, Waite loaded the bases for New Jersey, and Jamal Austin would send a fly ball to right plating Castro who reached by taking a fastball on the elbow. Jared Schlehuber singled scoring Threlkeld making 9-6 before Mike Nesseth came on in relief of Waite. Nesseth forced Trapp to flyout to Muren in center earning his ninth save and ending the game.

Ty Kelley (3-5, 3.79 ERA) earns his third win and his second in as many starts in his return to Yogi Berra Stadium going six innings, allowing three runs (all earned) on eight hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts. Claggett (0-1, 9.00) takes his first loss of the season for the Jackals.

Dunigan, who went 0-13 with 10 strikeouts in the last series at Sussex County, including being ejected in the eighth inning of last night’s game arguing a called third strike, went 3-for-3 with two homers and 5 RBIs today in his return to his former club.

Fargo-Moorhead improves to 19-36 and snaps a two game skid while New Jersey drops to 29-22. Game two of the series is scheduled for tomorrow night with Brandon Mann (2-5, 4.37 ERA) squares off against Gabriel Perez (5-1, 2.93 ERA) at 6:05 p.m. central time. All games can be heard on 740 AM The Fan with Jack Michaels on the call.

Game Date: 07/19/2015

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks  9 AT :New Jersey Jackals  6

                                 YTD                                   YTD
Fargo              AB  R  H BI   AVG  New Jersey         AB  R  H BI   AVG
D.Muren CF          5  0  1  1  .254  P.Mooney SS         4  0  1  1  .250
 B.Peterson 3B      0  0  0  0  .210  A.Gomez 2B          5  1  3  0  .462
Z.Penprase SS       5  0  0  1  .260  A.Kirby-Jones DH    5  0  0  0  .214
C.Mozingo CF,LF     5  0  1  0  .311  M.Threlkeld 3B      5  2  3  2  .429
J.Bonfe DH          5  0  1  0  .292  L.Castro RF         3  2  2  0  .667
J.Staley C          2  3  1  0  .246  J.Schlehuber 1B     4  0  1  1  .100
R.Pineda 2B         4  2  1  0  .250  J.Austin CF         4  0  1  2  .214
J.Dunigan LF,RF     3  2  3  5  .213  J.Trapp LF          5  1  1  0  .176
F.Hall 3B,RF        3  1  1  1  .111  T.Quinn C           3  0  0  0  .000
T.Peterson 1B       3  1  1  1  .227   T.Caldwell C       0  0  0  0  .333
                   35  9 10  9                           38  6 12  6

Fargo                0 5 2   0 0 1   0 1 0 -  9 10  1
New Jersey           0 0 2   1 0 0   1 0 2 -  6 12  2
2B--T.Peterson (2). 3B--J.Austin (1). HR--J.Dunigan 2 (7), M.Threlkeld (2).
RBI--D.Muren (17), Z.Penprase (27), J.Dunigan  5 (31), F.Hall (4),
T.Peterson (6), P.Mooney (1), M.Threlkeld  2 (6), J.Schlehuber (1),
J.Austin  2 (2). HP--L.Castro (1). SF--F.Hall (1), T.Peterson (2), P.Mooney
(1), J.Austin (1). SB--A.Gomez (3), J.Trapp (2). E--F.Hall (9), T.Quinn
(1), A.Claggett (1). 
LOB--Fargo 4, New Jersey 11. DP--A. Gomez(2B) - P. Mooney(SS) - J.
Schlehuber(1B), A. Gomez(2B) - M. Threlkeld(3B) - J. Schlehuber(1B). 
                                                                YTD
                                 IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR     ERA
 Fargo
T.Kelley (W,3-5)                6.0   8   3   3   3   2   1    3.79
B.Waite                         2.2   4   3   3   0   2   0    5.51
M.Nesseth (S,9)                 0.1   0   0   0   0   0   0    3.00
                                9    12   6   6   3   4   1
 New Jersey
A.Claggett (L,0-1)              6.0   8   8   6   1   2   2    9.00
D.Moskovits                     2.0   1   1   1   2   2   0    7.71
B.Sisk                          1.0   1   0   0   0   1   0    0.00
                                9    10   9   7   3   5   2
WP--B.Waite 2 (3). HB--B.Waite (3). SO--D.Muren, Z.Penprase 2, J.Bonfe 2,
A.Kirby-Jones 3, T.Quinn. BB--J.Staley 2, J.Dunigan, L.Castro,
J.Schlehuber, T.Quinn. BF--T.Kelley 30 (183), B.Waite 13 (73), M.Nesseth
(43), A.Claggett 28 (28), D.Moskovits 9 (35), B.Sisk 3 (6). P-S--T.Kelley
128-80, B.Waite 44-26, M.Nesseth 4-3, A.Claggett 96-60, D.Moskovits 34-17,
B.Sisk 9-8. 
T--3:10.  A--721

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Plate Umpire - Tim McCaffery, Field Umpire #1 - Will Haggett, Field Umpire #2 - Ian Kelly