Canaries Win 7-6 In St. Paul To Take Series Against Saints

ST PAUL, MN -- With a chance to win the series in St. Paul Wednesday night, the Sioux Falls Canaries (8-18) came out strong early and used solo homeruns from Shelby Ford in the first inning and Chris Duffy in the second to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.  Although they would not score again until the sixth inning, the Canaries scored five runs in the final four frames to win 7-6 over the Saints (17-10).

Despite not getting the start they were hoping for from Matt Wickswat, the Canaries were able to ride their bullpen with Erick Gonzalez, John Brebbia and Alan DeRatt combining to go 4.1 innings and allowing just one run.  Brebbia (3-1) earned the win and DeRatt picked up his sixth save.

With the Canaries leading 2-0, Joe Bonfe and Evan Bigley hit back-to-back homeruns off Wickswat in the fourth to tie the game and Joey Becker later doubled in a third run to put St. Paul in front 3-2.  Angelo Songco and Brandon Tripp each drove in runs with two outs in the fifth inning and the Saints extended their lead to 5-2.

The Canaries would answer in the sixth with Ford leading off the inning with a triple. He would score on AJ Kirby-Jones's sacrifice fly and later in the inning Chris Valencia scored Carlos Mendez who doubled to bring the Canaries back within one run, 5-4.

With two outs in the eighth, Mendez and Valencia each hit singles and Stephen Branca pushed across Mendez with his own base hit to tie the game.

After St. Paul retook the lead 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth on Mendez's error at third base, the Canaries had one last chance in the ninth.  Steve Tinoco drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Brandon Jones's sacrifice bunt.  Ford then singled and Tinoco went to third and after Kirby-Jones worked the second walk of the inning, the bases were loaded with one out. Duffy hit a groundball that scored Tinoco to tie the game and Carloz Mendez atoned for his error by bringing in Ford with the go-ahead run on his infield single.

DeRatt locked down the bottom of the ninth for the Canaries who held on for the 7-6 win.

After an off-day Thursday, the Canaries will return to action Friday night against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks at the Birdcage to open a six-game homestand.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries