By Chad Miller, Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks

Fargo, North Dakota – Timely two-out hitting allowed the RedHawks to wrap up a series win against the Sioux Falls Canaries on a warm June evening.

The action began out of the gate for the RedHawks as Dillon Thomas would smack a two-out base hit and Leo Pina would follow him with a bloop single that allowed Thomas to score from first for the game’s opening salvo. Sioux Falls responded in the ensuing half inning with a solo home run to tie the ballgame after two innings of play.

The Canaries would take the lead in the top of the fourth inning as a single and a walk put two runners on for an RBI single to make it a 2-1 game in favor of the visitors. RedHawks’ starter Correlle Prime would escape and limit the damage by forcing a groundout to third.

Prime is starting to come into his own after throwing 6.0 innings, allowing two runs (both earned) off five hits while walking and striking out two respectively. Tonight’s start is not only the furthest Prime has pitched into a game this season, but also in his career, beating the five innings of no-hit baseball he accomplished in his previous start against the Milwaukee Milkmen that took place on May 26.

The RedHawks’ bats finally came back around in the bottom of the sixth inning as Evan Alexander led off with an infield single followed by Thomas doubling to right to put both runners in scoring position. With two outs, John Silviano lined a ball into right field to score both runners and surged the RedHawks back in front 3-2.

Fargo-Moorhead was not done there as in the bottom of the seventh, B.J. Lopez put a one out single into center field to allow Evan Alexander to crush a ball over the right field wall to extend the RedHawks lead to five runs. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Nick Novak singled in a run and Lopez would get himself another hit, this time with an RBI single to bring us to our final score of 7-2.

With the win, Fargo-Moorhead take the series from Sioux Falls and advanced to an 11-7 record, which keeps them in first place in the AAPB West Division. Tomorrow, the RedHawks will welcome the Lincoln Saltdogs into Newman Outdoor Field. The first pitch for the Friday night contest is scheduled for 7:02 p.m.