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FARGO, ND – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks dropped the series finale 15-4 to the St. Paul Saints before a crowd of 3,602 fans at Newman Outdoor Field on Monday night.

St. Paul has had RedHawks' starter Tyler Herron's number this season, as Herron had already made three starts prior against them, going 0-2 with a 7.33 ERA. St. Paul continued that trend on Monday as they got to him right away in the first inning. With two outs, Vinny DiFazio singled followed by Angelo Songco getting plunked on the elbow which brought up Mike Kvasnicka. Kvasnicka would double off the wall in right-center plating two giving St. Paul a 2-0 lead after the top of the first.

Zach Penprase would answer in the bottom half of the frame. Leading off due to Drew Muren taking the day off with neck soreness, Penprase lifted a leadoff solo homer to right cutting the deficit in half for the 'Hawks.

The Saints would pour it on in the second inning. Steve Nikorak led off the inning with a walk followed by a standup RBI triple from Anthony Phillips. Dan Kaczrowski would ground out to second next plating Phillips making it 4-1. It was back to the top of the order with Alonzo Harris who reached on an error from third baseman Taylor Oldham followed by back-to-back walks to Argo and DiFazio loading the bases for Angelo Songco. Songco stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in last night's game and delivered with a bases clearing double. Tonight he blasted a triple to the wall in right clearing the bases making it 7-1 Saints.

Other than the mistake pitch to Zach Penprase in the first inning, St. Paul starter Pedro Hernandez was untouchable through the first three innings. He retired ten straight batters after the Penprase homer up until Chad Mozingo stepped to the dish in the fourth inning with one out. Mozingo took the second offering from the former Minnesota Twin to deep right-center allowing him to trot into second with his American Association leading 28^th double while extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Mozingo would be advanced to third on a single from Joe Bonfe and then home on an RBI single from Joe Dunigan making it 7-3 St. Paul.

Saint Paul would come right back with a four run fifth inning. Steve Nikorak blasted a two run homer to right and DiFazio would belt a two RBI double making it 11-3 Saints. Herron would give way to Benji Waite in the fifth, going 4.2 innings, allowing 11 runs (seven earned) on six hits with seven walks and three strikeouts.

Zach Penprase's bat would come alive again in the sixth inning. Penprase led off the frame with his second dinger of the night, another solo home run to the same spot in right field. It was Penprase's first multi homerun game in his ten year professional career. Penprase said, “I just saw the ball like usual, fastballs up and away. That's where I like it.”

The RedHawks would tack on a run in the bottom of the eighth. Tyler Peterson led off with a single and would be driven in later on a Taylor Oldham groundout making it 11-4.

The Saints, however, would tack on four more for good measure in the top of the ninth, highlighted by another Nikorak two run homer that made it 15-4. It was also Nikorak's first multi-homer game in his career.

Herron (4-5) takes the loss while Hernandez (7-2) earns his seventh win of the season.

With the loss, Fargo-Moorhead drops to 23-44 and is swept by the Saints while going 1-5 on the homestand. St. Paul rolls on and improves their record to 52-16, tops in the American Association. The RedHawks will take Tuesday off before beginning a six-game road trip on Wednesday beginning with a three-game set with the Sioux City Explorers, led by former RedHawk Steve Montgomery. After the series in Sioux City they will travel further South and will take on the Kansas City T-Bones in a three-game series beginning on Saturday. All games can be heard on 740 AM The Fan with Scott Miller on the road trip.

Game Date: 08/03/2015

St Paul Saints  15 AT Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks  4

                                 YTD                                   YTD
St Paul            AB  R  H BI   AVG  Fargo              AB  R  H BI   AVG
A.Harris CF         5  3  1  0  .313  Z.Penprase SS       4  2  2  2  .277
W.Argo LF           2  3  0  0  .322  T.Oldham 3B         4  0  0  1  .267
V.DiFazio 1B,C      4  2  3  4  .377  C.Mozingo CF        4  1  1  0  .338
 K.Sneed PR         0  0  0  0  .000  J.Bonfe RF          4  0  1  0  .282
A.Songco 1B         3  1  1  3  .351  J.Dunigan LF        4  0  1  1  .220
 J.Paciorek C       0  0  0  1  .284  R.Pineda 2B         4  0  1  0  .255
M.Kvasnicka RF      4  0  1  2  .310  J.Staley DH         4  0  1  0  .259
 M.Elliott PH,RF    1  0  1  0  .186  T.Peterson 1B       4  1  1  0  .241
R.Lashley 2B,DH     6  1  0  0  .362  C.Andrus C          2  0  0  0  .214
S.Nikorak 3B        4  3  2  3  .233       
A.Phillips SS       5  2  2  1  .260       
D.Kaczrowski 1B,2B  5  0  0  1  .252       
                   39 15 11 15                           34  4  8  4

St Paul              2 5 0   0 4 0   0 0 4 - 15 11  0
Fargo                1 0 0   1 0 1   0 1 0 -  4  8  3
2B--V.DiFazio (14), M.Kvasnicka (20), C.Mozingo (28). 3B--A.Songco (6),
A.Phillips (2). HR--S.Nikorak 2 (4), Z.Penprase 2 (5). RBI--V.DiFazio  4
(64), A.Songco  3 (61), J.Paciorek (18), M.Kvasnicka  2 (57), S.Nikorak  3
(15), A.Phillips (26), D.Kaczrowski (18), Z.Penprase  2 (35), T.Oldham (9),
J.Dunigan (40). HP--A.Songco (6), C.Andrus (3). SF--J.Paciorek (3).
SB--A.Harris (27), Z.Penprase (17). CS--J.Bonfe (1). E--T.Oldham 2 (6),
C.Mozingo (5). 
LOB--St Paul 9, Fargo 4. 
                                                                YTD
                                 IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR     ERA
 St Paul
P.Hernandez (W,7-2)             6.0   5   3   3   0   4   2    4.02
M.Mehlich                       1.0   1   1   1   0   0   0    4.24
C.Peacock                       1.0   0   0   0   0   0   0    2.29
A.Sogard                        1.0   2   0   0   0   1   0    2.76
                                9     8   4   4   0   5   2
 Fargo
T.Herron (L,4-5)                4.2   6  11   7   7   3   1    4.35
B.Waite                         3.1   1   0   0   1   3   0    4.70
J.Chudy                         1.0   4   4   4   2   1   1    6.96
                                9    11  15  11  10   7   2
HB--C.Peacock (2), T.Herron (5). SO--V.DiFazio, A.Songco, R.Lashley 2,
S.Nikorak 2, A.Phillips, T.Oldham, J.Dunigan, R.Pineda, J.Staley, C.Andrus.
BB--A.Harris, W.Argo 4, V.DiFazio 2, A.Songco, M.Elliott, S.Nikorak.
BF--P.Hernandez 22 (349), M.Mehlich 4 (69), C.Peacock 4 (88), A.Sogard 5
(74), T.Herron 30 (411), B.Waite 12 (100), J.Chudy 9 (114).
P-S--P.Hernandez 83-56, M.Mehlich 14-10, C.Peacock 15-8, A.Sogard 10-8,
T.Herron 115-60, B.Waite 41-24, J.Chudy 40-23. 
T--4:11.  A--3602

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