Fargo, N.D. — Trailing by three going into the ninth inning, the Lake Country DockHounds scored twice with one out, but they stranded the tying and go-ahead runs by striking out twice to drop the series opener to the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 4-3.
Franklyn Kilome made his fifth start with the DockHounds and it did not start well. The first four RedHawks all got hits and three runs scored with no outs, but the righty settled in for Lake Country. Kilome at one point set down ten straight RedHawks and didn’t allow another earned run in 5 ⅔ innings.
The bullpen locked it down for Lake Country, keeping the offense within striking distance. Blake Tiberi was hit by a pitch to begin the game and scored with no outs in the first inning, but no runs followed through eight innings.
Marek Chlup and Marcus Chiu both singled to begin the ninth inning and scored on Juan Graterol’s single up the middle to make it a 4-3 game. Dustin Woodcock walked before the runs came home, so the tying run moved into scoring position with Graterol aboard as the go-ahead run. Reza Aleaziz struck out the next two batters to halt Lake Country’s comeback.
Lake Country will be back at it Wednesday, aiming to even the series with first pitch at 7:02 CT.