ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks defeated the St. Paul Saints 4-0 on Sunday evening at CHS Field to win their three-game series. The Redhawks were led by starting pitcher Zach Pendercast, who threw seven good innings, giving up no runs and six hits while striking out nine batters.

He got help on the offensive side, as after being held hitless for the first two innings, the Redhawks finally recorded a hit in the third inning when Trever Adams led off with a single to right field, though he was retired almost immediately, as Mikey Reynolds grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

Despite needing just one more out to escape the inning unharmed, Waite was unable to end the inning until the Redhawks put up three runs, with two of them coming on a double from Chris Grayson. The inning finally ended when Josh Mazzola hit a weak pop-fly to the shortstop, but the damage was done.

Waite rebounded from that to throw two innings of scoreless baseball, highlighted by five straight strikeouts, but the Redhawks struck again in the sixth inning, though they only got one run. It happened when Grayson hit a one-out single, and proceeded to steal both second and third base.

He scored easily when K.D. Kang singled to center field to extend the lead to 4-0. Charlie Valerio followed with a single to left field that put runners on the corner, but Adams ended the inning with a flyout to right field.

Pendercast was pulled before the bottom of the eighth inning due to a high pitch count and gave way for Trey McNutt. McNutt threw the eighth inning, getting all three batters he faced, including two strikeouts. For the ninth inning, the Redhawks brought in Tyler Thompson. He gave up a walk to Kes Carter, and Jon Kristoffersen reached base on an error by the second baseman, but Thompson came back and struck out Tim Colwell for the final out of the game.

The Saints now will hit the road for a three-game series with the Winnipeg Goldeyes that starts Monday night. The Redhawks, meanwhile, will also be on the road, as they will have an off day before facing the Sioux Falls Canaries for a three-game series. The two teams will meet again August 3-6 when the Redhawks make their final visit of the regular season to CHS Field.

Quick Hits

- Before the game, the Saints made three transactions. They released pitchers Connor Little and Jason Creasy and signed former Saint and Redhawk Matt Schuld. Schuld has been playing town ball for the last few years and was presumably brought in so the Saints would have a fresh arm for their upcoming trip to Canada.

- With his single in the third inning, Tim Colwell extended his hitting streak to nine consecutive games. It is the second-longest active streak for the Saints, as Breland Almadova has a 12-game streak, but he has been on the DL for the last month with a hand injury.

- The Saints are now 5-4 this season in Sunday games. In games against other North Division teams, they are now 5-6. This month, they have a record of 4-11, not what you want in a close division race. This was also the first time this season that the Saints were shut out.

Win – Zach Pendercast (2-0)

Loss – Benji Waite (2-2)

Save – None

FM – 003 001 000 – 4 9 2

SP  -- 000 000 000 – 0 6 0

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About the author
Stevie Larson
NASCAR Editor, Minnesota sports fan. Contact: [email protected]