FARGO, North Dakota — Leo Pina scorches DockHounds’ pitching as he collects four RBIs on the way to a Fargo-Moorhead series sweep of Lake Country on a warm Thursday night at Newman Outdoor Field.
Dillon Thomas kicked off the action with a triple to center field to put himself in position for Pina to bring him in with a base hit to for the game’s opening salvo. Lake Country did not respond until the top of the third inning as they pieced together a single and a stolen base followed by another single to tie the ballgame at a run a piece.
Both pitchers limited any damage until the fifth inning when the DockHounds took their only lead of the contest against RedHawks’ starter Colten Davis, utilizing back-to-back base hits and a couple of ground outs to score a run. Davis finished the game allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out six batters on his way to his fourth quality start and seventh win of the season.
The ‘Hawks came surging back, scoring runs in each of the following three innings. In the fifth, Leo Pina drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. In the sixth, Evan Alexander hit a one out single and after stealing second, was scored with a base hit to left field off the bat of Scott Schreiber to retake the lead. Fargo-Moorhead added insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh thanks to Pina hitting a two-run shot over the left field wall for his 17th homerun of the season to make it a 5-2 ball game and that is where our scored finalized as Ben Holmes collected a strikeout and a couple of flyouts to earn his first save of the season.
With the win, Fargo-Moorhead returns to a .500 record with a 48-48 record as their magic number drops to one game and would need to win their series opener against Winnipeg OR Lincoln lose their series opener on the road in Kane County to clinch the final playoff spot in the AAPB West Division. The aforementioned series opener at Newman Outdoor Field will take place Friday night when the RedHawks take on the Goldeyes in the final fireworks game of the season. Gates are scheduled to open at 6 p.m. with the first pitch scheduled for 7:02 p.m.
