FARGO, North Dakota – Kevin McGovern’s 11th quality start of the season led the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks to a series opening win over the Lake Country DockHounds by a final score of 4-3 on a fair Tuesday night at Newman Outdoor Field.
Lake Country struck first in the game’s opening inning as the leadoff batter reached first via a hit-by-pitch and later came around to score after back-to-back singles for the game’s opening salvo. However, Fargo-Moorhead were quick to respond as Alec Olund led off the ensuing half inning with an infield single and Dillon Thomas followed with a double to left field to put runners in scoring position. This allowed Leo Pina to double to left field to score both runners and give the RedHawks the lead that would quickly be extended by a base hit from Manny Boscan in the ensuing at-bat to score Pina and make it a 3-1 game after the first inning was completed.
After that, the home crowd were witnesses to both starting pitchers settling in as after allowing a runner each in the second, they kept the basepaths clear in the third and the fourth innings. This continued until the bottom of the sixth inning with Scott Schreiber reaching base with a one out walk. After swiping second base as well as reaching third on the same play thanks to an error by the visiting catcher, the RedHawks left fielder scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to three runs.
In the seventh, McGovern reached his peak as on the 111th pitch of his start, he allowed a two out single to left field, which ended his night. However, no damage came from this as Garrett Alexander unleashed a 95 miles per hour fastball to strike out the third out, ending the threat and closing the book on Gov’s night. The veteran southpaw pitched 6.2 innings, allowing the lone run off six hits and a walk while collecting five strikeouts on his way to his ninth victory of the season.
The insurance run that scored in the sixth proved to be crucial as Lake Country were able to piece together three hits and a walk to score two runs in the top of the ninth inning before Reza Aleaziz collected a couple of strikeouts to complete his tenth save of the season.
With the victory, the RedHawks have now won six of their last ten games as they rise to a 46-48 record. On top of that, Fargo-Moorhead maintain their spot in the AAPB West Division playoffs. The ‘Hawks return to action on Wednesday night as they will face off with the DockHounds for game two of the three game series. Gate at Newman Outdoor Field will open at 6 p.m. with the first pitch scheduled for 7:02 p.m.
