American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. Robert Pannier recaps the one game in the American Association on Wednesday as the Chicago Dogs force a Game 5 in the North Division Championship Series with an 11-1 victory. This and much more.

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Bennett Slam, Friedrich Gem Buries RedHawks

The Chicago Dogs left no doubt they were going to force a Game 5, scoring five runs in the top of the first courtesy of a grand slam off the bat of T.J. Bennett as Chicago earned an 11-1 victory over the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. Michael Crouse gave Chicago the lead with an RBI single. After the Dogs loaded the bases, Bennett finished off a seven pitch at bat with his second homerun of the postseason. Chicago put this contest away with two runs in the third, a run in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one more in the sixth. Danny Mars and Joey Terdoslavich also went deep for Chicago.

That was more than enough support for Christian Friedrich, who allowed one run in eight innings to earn his first playoff victory for Chicago. The lefty tossed seven shutout innings before finally giving up a leadoff homerun in the bottom of the eighth. Correlle Prime broke the scoreless string with his first homerun of the playoffs.

Bennett finished with two hits, two runs, and five RBI. Mars had three hits and scored three runs.

Chicago Dogs Recap by Jesus Mauricio

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks Recap by Chad Ekren

Boxscore

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Three Stars of the Night

No. 3 – Danny Mars (Chicago Dogs) 3-5, 3 R, HR, RBI

No. 2 – Christian Friedrich (Chicago Dogs) 8.0 IP, 9 H, ER, 0 BB, 4 K

No. 1 – T.J. Bennett (Chicago Dogs) 2-5, 2 R, HR, 5 RBI

This Week in the Association and Minor League Sports Report Sponsored by PURE

American Association Daily Notes

Game 5 of the North Division Championship Series will be played Thursday night. The Chicago Dogs will send right-hander Jordan Kipper (1-0) against Fargo-Moorhead righty Ryan Flores (0-1). The winner will face the Kansas City Monarchs in the American Association Championship Series…In the division series of the Frontier League playoffs, the Washington Wild Things evened their series, scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score, then winning on a walk off double by Nick Ward to earn a 4-3 victory. The Florence Yalls also evened their series with the Schaumburg Boomers with a 4-3 victory. Both series shift locations as they continue on Friday.

This Week in the Association and Minor League Sports Report Sponsored by PURE

Transactions

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By Robert Pannier