The Lake County Fielders earned their first victory of a four game series over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in extra innings on Wednesday night at Newman Outdoor Field. Lake County catcher Anthony Esquer hit a game-winning home run in the top of tenth inning to stake the Fielders to the win.
Fielders starting pitcher Garry Bakker went 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Bakker struggled a bit with his control, allowing five walks on the night. He also had one strikeout.
Fargo-Moorhead ace Chad Rhoades had to leave the game with two outs in the top of the third inning after being struck on his throwing elbow with a sharp comebacker off the bat of Lake County’s Eric Suttle. Rhoades gave up one hit in his shortened performance.
Esquer was 2-for-4 on the night with three RBI. Lake County’s Josh Petersen also had a big game, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Fargo-Moorhead’s Jay Cox was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI.
Garrett Sherill (1-0) came on in relief and pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Fielders to earn the win while the RedHawks’ Donnie Smith (0-1) took the loss. Lake County’s Jason Pearson notched his first save of the season.
The two teams will wrap up their series tomorrow night starting at 6:00pm. Cory Bass will get the ball for Lake County while Darren Byrd will start for the RedHawks.
