FARGO, N.D. — The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (19-9) scored on walk-off sacrifice fly from left fielder Rymer Liriano in the bottom of the tenth inning to defeat the Cleburne Railroaders (6-22) by a score of 3-2 on Tuesday night with 3,326 fans in attendance at Newman Outdoor Field.
The game was moving along until the top of the second inning when home plate umpire Jeff Osbourne was hit by a pitch and was forced to leave the game. After a short delay, the game continued as both teams remained scoreless through the first four innings of the game. It was the Railroaders who opened the scoring in the top of the fifth, when Nick Shumpert hit an RBI double, scoring Edwin Arroyo. Shumpert (2-for-4, walk) then scored on a Zach Nehrir single and Cleburne took a 2-0 lead. After giving up two runs RedHawks starter Ryan Flores came out of the game after the fifth inning and was replaced by LHP Brady Stover, who allowed one walk and struck out two batters in the sixth.
The RedHawks would score their first run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Leo Piña solo home run. The homer was the only run and just one of five hits allowed by Cleburne starter Kevin Hilton, who also allowed two walks and struck out three batters in seven innings pitched.
F-M’s Luke Lind came in and pitched in the seventh and eighth and allowed two hits and a walk, but did not allow a run. As the top of the eighth inning began, the ballpark’s outfield lights suddenly went out and the game was delayed until the stadium operations crew was able to get the lights back on after another delay in the game. In total, there were two delays that lasted 37 minutes in total.
The Railroaders brought in Michael Krauza, who gave up the game-tying run in the eighth inning on two hits and two walks. Krauza came out of the game and RHP Nick Gardewine pitched in the ninth inning and allowed a hit and a walk but struck out two batters. RedHawks closer, Alex DuBord, was called in to the ninth and allowed one hit as the game remained tied and heading into extra innings. RHP Joe Jones (1-0) followed in the tenth inning and worked around the extra-innings automatic baserunners and a walk to escape the inning without allowing a run and picking up the win.
Cleburne’s Austin Fairchild came in the bottom of the tenth inning with Leo Piña starting on second base, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Fairchild. Rymer Liriano, who tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with an RBI single, drove him in on a sacrifice fly to right field to score the winning run. Fairchild (0-2) earned the loss after allowing the walk-off sacrifice fly.
The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and Cleburne Railroaders will continue their three-game series tomorrow night at 7:02 p.m. at Newman Outdoor Field. RHP Davis Feldman (1-2, 3.47 ERA) will take the hill for the RedHawks, while the Railroaders plan to start LHP Kody Bullard (2-2, 4.35 ERA).
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