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WINNIPEG, MB – The Winnipeg Goldeyes (56-41) beat the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 16-6 at Shaw Park on Friday night.

The Goldeyes continue to control their own destiny for the American Association wild card.  With the loss, the RedHawks are mathmatically eliminated from playoff contention. Laredo beat Wichita 10-4 on Friday.  The Goldeyes must match the same number of wins the Lemurs attain over the final three days of the regular season.  Winnipeg also kept its hopes alive in the North Division with St. Paul losing 5-2 versus Lincoln.  Winnipeg would need to win its final three games while having the Saints lose their final three to win the American Association North.

“Today, coming off such a deflating loss yesterday and obviously being in a must-win situation, to come out and perform the way they did, it was certainly enjoyable to watch,” said Goldeyes’ manager Rick Forney.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Reggie Abercrombie drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.  Josh Romanski lined a single to centre to drive in Abercrombie with the tying run.  David Rohm hit a line drive single to centre that extended his hitting streak to 13 games, tying a career-high set earlier this season.  After Casio Grider loaded the bases with no outs by beating out a sacrifice attempt, Wes Darvill drove in Romanski with the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice.  Carlton Tanabe followed with a single through the right side to score Rohm with the Goldeyes’ third run.

“They (the offence) were the whole story today,” said Forney.  “Just a really good night.  A lot of hits, took some walks, got some  important hits to drive in runs, and we got contributions from everyone in the order today.  It was a great offensive game.  We’ve been scuffling for 10 days, two weeks offensively.  It was tough for us to string together two or three quality at-bats in a row, but today, we were able to do it.  Josh had five RBIs.  Carlton had a big day.  Willie had a big day.  Just a lot of guys coming through with some big hits, driving in some runs.  I thought we ran the bases really well today, too.”

After Goldeyes’ starter Edwin Carl (10-6) pitched a scoreless top of the third, the Goldeyes extended the lead with four runs in the bottom half.  Maikol Gonzalez drew a leadoff walk and took second on Willie Cabrera’s single to centre.  Two batters later, Romanski lined a single to centre that scored Gonzalez.  Rohm followed with a line drive single to right that set up a bases loaded walk to Grider.  After Darvill grounded into a fielder’s choice, Tanabe ripped a single to left to drive in Romanski and Rohm to make it 7-1.

The RedHawks battled back in the fifth with three runs.  With second and third and no outs, Josh Mazzola hit a bloop single to centre field that scored Ryan Pineda.  Following a wild pitch, KD Kang cut the lead to 7-4 with a sharp, groundball single to centre that brought in Keury de la Cruz and Mazzola.

Carl earned the win, allowing four earned runs on six hits in five innings.  Carl walked three and struck out eight.

Will Solomon (6-3) started and took the loss for the RedHawks.  Solomon allowing seven earned runs on seven hits in two and one-third innings.  Solomon walked two and struck out one.

Cabrera launched a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that struck a light pole in left field to extend the Goldeyes lead to 9-4.

The RedHawks managed two runs in the top of the seventh on two-out, RBI hits from Brian Humphries and Ryan Wagner.

The Goldeyes put the game away with a seven-run bottom of the eighth.  Cabrera and Abercrombie drew bases loaded walks before Romanski hit a three-run double on a line drive to left.  Rohm and Darvill added RBI hits to close out the scoring.

Victor Capellan pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, while Brandon Shimo struck out a pair in a perfect ninth to finish the game.

Abercrombie saved the game early with a diving catch with two outs in the top of the first to rob Kang of extra bases and two RBI.

Wagner drove in Dustin Geiger with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second to give the RedHawks their brief 1-0 lead.