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FARGO, ND -- The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (6-6) got home runs from Josh Mazzola and K.D. Kang in the bottom of the eighth inning to deliver an 11-8 win over the Sioux City Explorers (6-7) on Tuesday night at Newman Outdoor Field. The game provided plenty of action with five total home runs, four were by the home team.

Ryan Pineda started out his great day at the plate and the scoring by driving in Chad Mozingo on a double. The Explorers responded by taking a 2-1 lead in the second, one of the runs came off of Michael Lang getting his solid outing started as well with his first RBI. Then in the bottom of the inning, another player made the first contribution of his big day at the plate with Kang blasting a homerun over centerfield.

Tied at 2-2, the ‘Hawks took control of the game in the third and fourth innings. Brian Humphries’ three run opposite field homer scored Pineda and Keury De La Cruz in the third. In the fourth once again Pineda scored on an RBI from Humphries, and De La Cruz scored as well. With a 7-2 lead, the game seemed in hand until Lang provided a jump start for his team in the sixth. After an RBI from Derek Robinson, Lang got involved in the home run derby with a three run shot of his own, tightening the game at 7-6.   

A Humphries RBI scored De La Cruz (his third run of the game) in the bottom of the sixth, but once again the X’s came roaring back. Two runs in the top of the eighth thanks to good base running knotted the game up at 8-8. RedHawks sluggers took the lead back as swiftly as it was tied up. Pineda kicked things off with a double, then Mazzola cranked one over the left-centerfield wall. Kang added in one more over centerfield for insurance. Two strikeouts in the top of the ninth clinched the game for the home team.

Travis Ballew’s (1-0) cool hand earned the win and Trevor Bayless (0-2) took the loss. The series finale will be Wednesday night at 7:02 p.m. at Newman Outdoor Field. Tyler Herron (1-0) will take the mound for Fargo-Moorhead, while Sioux City will counter with Eric Wordekemper (1-0).