ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It looked bleak at first for the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, as they trailed the St. Paul Saints 5-2 entering the seventh inning, but they rallied for three in that frame and added another in the eighth to take home the win on Friday night at CHS Field. 

The Saints got the scoring started, thanks to a leadoff single from Tim Colwell in the bottom of the first inning. He advanced to second when JJ Gould singled, advanced to third on another single from Nate Hanson, and ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly from Kes Carter to put the Saints up 1-0. Despite all the hits, they were unable to put up any more runs in the inning. 

The two teams exchanged runs in the third, as the Redhawks put up two runs starting with a leadoff home run from Charlie Valerio, his sixth of the season. The next run came thanks to some small ball, as Devan Ahart drew a two-out walk, stole second, and scored on a double from Keury De La Cruz, who ended the inning being thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

In their half of the inning, the Saints also got a leadoff home run when Tim Colwell took the first pitch that he saw and sent it over the right field fence to tie the game at two. The Saints tacked on another run in the fourth when former Redhawk Mitch Delfino led off with a single, advanced to second on a groundout from Ben Buerkle, and scored when Tanner Lubach doubled to give the Saints the lead. 

The Saints got two more in the fifth inning when Gould hit his first home run as a Saint, which was followed by Hanson drawing a walk, and coming around to score when Delfino hit a sacrifice fly to left field. 

In the seventh inning, the Redhawks began to make their comeback, and they did it starting with a leadoff home run. The inning continued when Valerio singled with two outs, and after a St. Paul pitching change, Brandon Tierney hit a home run to left field to tie the game. 

The Redhawks took the lead in the eighth inning, and they got it without even getting a hit. None of the Saints pitchers in the inning could find the strike zone, as they walked four batters in the inning, and allowed the go-ahead run to score on a walk. 

It was a 6-5 lead for Fargo-Moorhead when the Saints came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning against Fargo-Moorhead closer Casey Weathers. The first batter that he faced was Colwell, who flew out to left field for the first out of the inning. That brought up Gould, who struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. That left the game in the hands of Hanson, who struck out looking to end the game. 

The two teams will play the third game of this four-game set on Saturday night when RHP Benji Waite (3-3, 3.12) takes the mound for St. Paul. The Redhawks will counter with LHP Will Solomon (4-2, 4.55). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Game Summary


Win - McNutt (1-3)
Loss - Hawkins (0-1)
Save - Weathers (14)
Player of the game - Trey McNutt (2 IP, 4K)

FM -- 002 000 310 -- 6  8 1
SP -- 101 120 000 -- 5 10 1