FARGO, ND – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks welcomed the top team in the league, the St. Paul Saints, to Newman Outdoor Field with open arms by posting a 1-0 shutout win in front of a sellout crowd of 4,624 fans on Thursday night.
The lone run of the game came in fourth. With two outs, Joe Bonfe lined a single into the gap in right-center to start things off. Joe Dunigan stepped to the plate next and ripped a double into right-center that rolled all the way to the wall scoring Bonfe from first.
Taylor Stanton started on the mound for the RedHawks. Stanton only surrendered two hits to the league's top offense, but still found trouble. He walked six Saints, putting him in several jams. To start, he walked the second and third batters of the game in the first inning, but forced flyouts to Drew Muren in center and Joe Dunigan in right to end the threat. The last four runs the RedHawks have scored have been with two-outs.
Stanton proceeded to retire eight of the next ten batters he faced from the second inning through the fourth. However, trouble came knocking again in the sixth inning. He walked Ian Gac, the designated hitter, and then plunked Angelo Songco with the next pitch. Later in the inning he walked starting shortstop Anthony Phillips to load the bases, but forced a groundout to Frank Salerno leaving the sixth inning unscathed.
Stanton eclipsed the 100 pitch mark at the end of the sixth, but Manager Doug Simunic stuck with him into the seventh. He was relieved after a strikeout and a walk by newly signed reliever Benji Waite. Waite came in walked Vinny DiFazio before forcing Gac to fly out to center field. Jonathan Chudy was called in to finish off the frame and he did just that forcing Joey Paciorek to ground into a fielder's choice erasing a bases loaded jam.
Chudy recorded a 1-2-3 frame in the eighth before Mike Nesseth came in to shut it down in the ninth. Nesseth walked Steve Nikorak and he advanced to second on a wild pitch. Vinny DiFazio would hit one to deep right, allowing Nikorak to advance on the tag to third. With the tying run just 90 feet away, Ian Gac, one of the best hitters in the league, stepped to the plate. Gac blooped one into right and Drew Muren came in with a full head of steam from center to track it down giving Fargo-Moorhead the win.
The Saints left 13 runners on base. Stanton allowed eight on, and each reliever surrendered a walk, but clutch pitching kept St. Paul off the board.
St. Paul starter Robert Coe, overshadowed by Stanton's performance, turned in a quality start and more. The right-hander went 6.2 innings and only allowed one run on six hits with a pair of walks and strikeouts. Coe drops his first decision of the season and is now 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA.
Taylor Stanton earns his first win of the season and is now 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA. He went 6.1 innings, allowing zero runs on two hits with six walks and four strikeouts. It is his first decision since May 25th, when he took the loss against Joplin. Mike Nesseth earns his second save of the season for the RedHawks.
Fargo-Moorhead improves to 10-24 and snaps a three-game skid while St. Paul now stands at 26-7 and has lost two games in a row for the first time all season. The same two teams return to Newman Outdoor Field tomorrow night with a 7:02 p.m scheduled start time. A familiar face takes the mound tomorrow night as newly signed pitcher Joe Harris is set to make his first start of the season. Harris returns to Fargo-Moorhead after being with the team from 2011-2014.
Game Date: 06/25/2015
St Paul Saints 0 AT Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 1
YTD YTD
St Paul AB R H BI AVG Fargo AB R H BI AVG
M.Elliott CF 4 0 1 0 .219 F.Salerno 2B 4 0 1 0 .261
S.Nikorak 3B 2 0 1 0 .231 C.Mozingo LF 4 0 1 0 .326
V.DiFazio C 3 0 0 0 .421 J.Staley C 3 0 0 0 .283
I.Gac DH 4 0 0 0 .341 C.Valerio 3B 4 0 0 0 .310
A.Songco 1B 2 0 0 0 .344 D.Muren CF 4 0 0 0 .261
J.Paciorek LF 4 0 0 0 .298 J.Bonfe 1B 3 1 1 0 .229
R.Youngdahl RF 4 0 0 0 .000 J.Dunigan RF 2 0 1 1 .190
A.Phillips SS 3 0 0 0 .243 B.Peterson SS 3 0 1 0 .204
D.Kaczrowski 2B 3 0 0 0 .083 M.Leach DH 3 0 1 0 .333
29 0 2 0 30 1 6 1
St Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 0
Fargo 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 x - 1 6 1
2B--J.Dunigan (6). RBI--J.Dunigan (15). HP--A.Songco (3). SH--M.Elliott
(0). SB--B.Peterson (2). E--T.Stanton (3).
LOB--St Paul 13, Fargo 8.
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
St Paul
R.Coe (L,3-1) 6.2 6 1 1 2 2 0 2.67
D.Chavez 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3.48
C.Peacock 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.35
8 6 1 1 3 2 0
Fargo
T.Stanton (W,1-1) 6.1 2 0 0 6 4 0 4.05
B.Waite 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.00
J.Chudy 1.1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.86
M.Nesseth (S,2) 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3.38
9 2 0 0 9 5 0
WP--M.Nesseth (1). HB--T.Stanton (1). SO--M.Elliott, S.Nikorak, J.Paciorek,
R.Youngdahl 2, J.Bonfe, M.Leach. BB--S.Nikorak 3, V.DiFazio 2, I.Gac,
A.Songco, A.Phillips, D.Kaczrowski, J.Staley, J.Bonfe, J.Dunigan. BF--R.Coe
28 (141), D.Chavez 4 (42), C.Peacock (37), T.Stanton 29 (174), B.Waite 2
(2), J.Chudy 5 (56), M.Nesseth 4 (17). P-S--R.Coe 102-66, D.Chavez 13-8,
C.Peacock 1-1, T.Stanton 127-65, B.Waite 10-5, J.Chudy 26-17, M.Nesseth
16-9.
T--2:59. A--4624
Weather:
Plate Umpire - Bryan Childe, Field Umpire #1 - Tyler Thurmond, Field Umpire #2 - Chantz Wilson
