FARGO, ND -- The Sioux Falls Canaries cracked 11 hits on Tuesday afternoon in Fargo, but it wasn’t enough to top the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in a 6-5 loss. Fargo-Moorhead won their second straight, and they have taken the first two games of the four-game series.

The Birds (4-8) stranded 11 runners on base, including three leadoff men, while defensive miscues gave the RedHawks extra opportunities.

The Canaries built an early 4-2 lead through 2 ½ innings on sacrifice flies from John Alonso and Nick Van Stratten and RBI hits from Kevin Dultz and Jake Taylor. But Fargo-Moorhead rattled off four straight runs to overcome the Canaries.  Ryan Pineda’s single scored an unearned run in the fifth inning to tie the game, and Jose Garcia flared a single to right field in the sixth inning, plating the go-ahead run. Garcia later stole home for a 6-4 lead.

Taylor’s sacrifice fly in the seventh pulled the Birds to 6-5, but the Fargo-Moorhead bullpen staved off Sioux Falls the rest of the way.

Neither starting pitcher factored in the decision. Fargo-Moorhead starter Ethan Opsahl, who played collegiately at Dakota Wesleyan University, exited the game in the third inning after yielding four runs in his first start. But the RedHawks’ bullpen limited the Canaries to one run on six hits after that. Nathan Kilcrease (1-0) earned the victory, allowing one run in 2 1/3 innings.

Canaries starter Adam Champion logged five innings and gave up four runs, three earned, with four strikeouts. Kyle Vazquez (0-2) suffered the loss in relief.

Alonso, the Canaries’ designated hitter, had his best game of the season, going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Van Stratten’s two hits extend a hitting streak to nine games.

Zach Penprase gathered his second consecutive three-hit game for Fargo-Moorhead, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Every batter in the RedHawks starting lineup collected at least one of their team’s 14 hits.

The Canaries and RedHawks continue the four-game series at 7:02 p.m. on Wednesday in Fargo.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries

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