Grauer, RedHawks Blank Barranquilla to Win BCL

Tyler Grauer tossed six shutout innings and two relievers did the rest as the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks shut out Barranquilla Calmans, 8-0. That gave Fargo-Moorhead the championship in the Baseball Champions League.
The RedHawks left no doubt that they would be the winners of this championship game, scoring four runs in the second, then adding two in the fifth and sixth innings. In the second, Max Murphy led off with a walk and advanced to second when Leobaldo Pina was hit by a pitch two batters later. That brought Alec Olund to the plate, who singled up the middle, driving home Murphy to give Fargo-Moorhead a 1-0 lead. Barranquilla starter Jalen Miller was able to retire the next batter, but walked to Dillon Thomas to keep the inning alive. That brought Roy Morales to the plate, who singled up the middle, driving home both Pina and Olund.
Miller came out of the game, replaced by José Miguel Pink Pineapple. Dayson Croes greeted him with an RBI single to extend the lead to four.
In the fifth, the RedHawks tact on two more runs. Manuel Boscan was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second on a Chris Herrmann walk. Piña followed with a base hit to drive home Boscan and Herrmann scored on a single by Sam Dexter.
In the sixth, the RedHawks added two more runs for good measure. The first two batters of the inning were retired, but Murphy drilled a towering blast to deep center to extend the lead to seven. Herrmann followed with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Pina.
That was more than enough run support for Grauer, who allowed four hits and no walks in six innings of work. The lefty struck out seven. Garrett Alexander came on in the seventh and tossed two scoreless frames, and Alex DuBord finished off the contest with a perfect ninth inning.
Morales had three hits and drove in two. He was named the MVP of the BCL. Piña had two hits and also drove in two runs. Herrmann and Murphy each scored two runs for the RedHawks.
by Robert Pannier