Another trip to the Lake: Series Recap against Winnipeg

CHS Field at Sunset

Well everyone the Saints opened their longest honest and of the season against the Goldeyes for another series against Winnipeg. The last time the Saints met the Goldeyes was last weekend at Shaw Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In that series the Saints took the series sweep with a 6-5 win on Friday, an 11-5 win on Saturday, and a 6-1 win on Sunday.

The series opened up on Friday night when the Saints helped open up Twin Cities Pride 2016. To open up the game the Saints would score 3 runs in the bottom of the first. Nate Hanson drove in Breland Alamadova on a double to make it 1-0 and a Tony Thomas single would drive in Hanson from 3rd and Songco from second who doubled the at bat before Thomas. The game would stay silent in the 2nd, that would change shortly in the 3rd. The 3rd would see 2 runs score when Josh Romanski doubled to knock in Hoopii-Haslam from 2nd and Gonzalez from 1st to make it 3-2. After those runs the game would remain quiet with neither club never really threatening again. Saints starter Mark Hamburger took the win and would go 8.2 innings throwing 7 K's and 2 walks, while Goldeyes starter Duke von Schamann would go 6 full innings allowing 3 runs with 5 K's and 2 walks.

Game 2 of the 4 game series was played on a hot Saturday evening in St. Paul. Starting for the good guys was rookie pitcher Kody Knaus while Ethan Carnes started for the Goldeyes. Unlike the previous  night the pitchers well just didn't do well at all. Knaus was pulled from the game after 1.1 innings when he gave up 5 runs on 7 hits with 1 walk. Carnes was pulled after 1.2 innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits. The early pitching changes were only the beginning of what would be a long run filled game. With the Goldeyes leading after 2 they would extend their lead to 7-3 when Ridge Hoopii-Haslam would hit a 2 run home run to right field. St. Paul wasn't going to give up so easily, as in the bottom of the 3rd they would bring in 3 runs with Angelo Songco hitting a solo home run and Breland Alamadova hit a 2 run home run. With the score at 7-6 after 3 innings the Goldeyes weren't about to let the Saints off that easily. The Goldeyes would tack on 3 more runs to make it a 10-6 ballgame, which is where it would stay for a while. After 3 and a half scoreless innings the Saints would start their comeback. The Saints would score 4 runs in the inning all of reliever Cameron McVey. 9 innings wouldn't be enough and the game would move to the 10th. The Goldeyes would go up by 1 when Maikol Gonzalez was driven in on Josh Romanski single to make it 11-10 Winnipeg. St. Paul wouldn't give up that easily as Willie Argo would drive in Angelo Songco on a single to tie it up at 11. At that point the game would get weird as the next batter would be walked before a FC to get 2 outs. Aaron Gretz would strike out on a 3rd strike wild pitch which allowed Gretz to get safely to first and Argo to reach home which the Saints won the game 12-11 in 10 innings on Top Gun night!

Game 3 of this 4 game series would be played on Sunday at 5:05PM, Winnipeg would continue where they left off last by scoring 1 run in each the first and second to take a 2-0 lead. St. Paul would tie it up in the 3rd when Aaron Gretz hit a 2 run home run. Winnipeg wouldn't play nice as they would score another run in each the 4th and in the 5th on a Reggie Abercrombie home run make it 4-2. Willie Argo would hit a home run to make it 4-3 in the 7th, while a Breland Almadova RBI Single in the 9th would tie it up and send it to extra innings for the second straight night. In the extra innings it would be a dogfight to the finish as no one would score in the 10th, while in the 11th Carlton Tanabe would hit a home run for the Goldeyes while Chad Christensen would hit Willie Argo in on a sac fly to make a 5-5 ballgame after 11. The fish still had fight left as in the top of the 12th Reggie Abercrombie would hit a 2 run home run, followed by a solo shot by Jacob Rogers. Carlton Tanabe capped it off when he drove in Casio Grider to make it 9-5. St. Paul scored one run in the 12th but wouldn't be able to complete the rally to win as Winnipeg would win 9-6 in 12th.

On Monday night game 4 would come around with both teams having different goals. St. Paul was looking to win the series while Winnipeg was looking to split the series. The Saints sent John Straka to the mound against Winnipeg's Kevin McGovern. Straka's 5 innings pitched would NOT be something the Saints wanted out of him as he would give up 5 runs in the second inning and another 2 in the second when David Rohm drove in Hoopii-Haslam and Murphey on an RBI single to make it 7-0 Goldeyes. The Saints would score 1 run in the 6th to make it 7-1 but things looked bleak in the 7th inning. That was until the Saints started a massive comeback on starting pitcher McGovern in the 8th innings. St. Paul would score 5 runs on small ball in the 8th to make it a 7-6 game but were shut down in the 9th by Goldeyes closer Kyle Anderson. Winnipeg would take the game 7-6 in 9 innings to split the series with St. Paul.

With the 4 game series done against Winnipeg, the Saints are still at home until Thursday as they'll play a 3 game series against the North Division rival Sioux Falls Canaries. The series starts tonight at 7:05PM, the teams play a special matinee on Wednesday and cap it off Thursday night. Remember if you can't make it to the ballpark you can watch all the action on americanassociationbaseball.tv. St. Paul has a record of 26-12 now which is the best in the league. They lead Fargo-Moorhead (21-15) by 4 Games, Winnipeg (19-18) by 6.5 Games, and Sioux Falls (12-23) by 12.5 games. That's it for this time and remember as always Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

We Found Something! Saints at Explorers Recap

Well everyone sorry for the long delay on this one, it will be an abnormally short recap but we'll be right back on it next time. The Saints finished up a 6 game roadtrip with a 3 game series in Sioux City and this is how it went.

The series opened on Monday night with the Saints on a nice winning streak, the X's wouldn't have any of that and absolutely crushed the Saints with a 13-5 win at Lewis and Clark Park in Sioux City. Tuesday night St. Paul would look to get back to their winning ways in game 2 of the series. The crowd on hand of 1,345 fans would see the Saints take the win 6-2 over the X's. And the series would end on Wednesday night in Sioux City. A crowd of a lowly 740 at Lewis and Clark Park would see the Saints win 6-4 that night and move to 24-10 on the year.

After 30+ Games this season the standings in the North Division have the St. Paul Saints (24-10) leading the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (17-15) by 6 Games, the Winnipeg Goldeyes (17-16) are 6.5 games back, and the Sioux Falls Canaries (12-21) are 11.5 Games behind. The Saints are currently the top ballclub in the American Association. Attendance wise the Saints also top the list averaging 7,963 after 10 openings for a total attendance of 79,630. The next best team in the overall category is the Kansas City T-Bones with  69,765 over 17 openings (4,104 avg) while Winnipeg is averaging 4,597 over 13 openings for a total attendance of 59,763. The worst teams in the league are the Laredo Lemurs averaging 676 over 19 openings for a total attendance of 12,839, while Joplin is not far behind with 686 per game over 19 openings with a total attendance of 13,041.

The Saints come back home for the longest homestand of the season (7 Games) starting tonight against the Winnipeg Goldeyes when they help open 2016 Twin Cities Pride and will wearing rainbow jerseys in support of the LGBT community, the game will end with Friday Night Fireworks featuring the music of Queen! Saturday it's the 30th anniversary of Top Gun, and Sunday evening the Saints will salute the Addams Family. Tuesday through Thursday the Saints host the Sioux Falls Canaries at CHS Field, with Wednesday being a special midday matinee at 1:05PM.
Don't worry if you can't make it to the games, you can watch ALL St. Paul Saints home games on americanassociationbaseball.tv, the Friday, Saturday, Monday,  Tuesday, and Thursday games are scheduled for 7:05PM, Sunday at 5:05PM and Wednesday at 1:05PM. We'll be at the Saints PRIDE game tonight and have pics up with our series recap. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Gone Fishin': Series Recap from Winnipeg

Well the Saints spent a nice 3 day weekend North of the border as they traveled to Shaw Park in Winnipeg to take on the Goldeyes. After just 3 games back at home after the 14 game road trip they would go back on the road for 6 more, which started on Friday night after a well deserved day off on Thursday.

Friday St. Paul went up to Winnipeg and would open the series with a 7:05PM game at Shaw Park. John Straka took the hill for the Saints while Duke Von Schamann would go on for the Goldeyes. The Saints would score the opening run in the second when Angelo Songco hit a leadoff home run. Winnipeg would tie up the ballgame at 1 in the bottom of the 3rd inning on a sac fly to right. St. Paul would add 3 more in the fourth on the backs of a Tony Thomas 2 RBI single and a Breland Almadova RBI single to make it 4-1. The Goldeyes wouldn't give up when David Rohm stepped to the plate and blasted a 2 run HR to make it 4-3. Even with a combined 8 runs given up Straka went 5 full innings and Von Schmann went 5.2 and was only pulled after he gave up his 5th run in the 6th inning. Winnipeg matched that run to make it 5-4 and the game would go scoreless until the 9th inning. In the 9th Songco drove in an RBI single to make it 6-4, but Winnipeg would match and get a home run in the 9th off Saints closer Ryan Rodebaugh. Final score Saints 6 Goldeyes 5, Straka took the win, Von Schmann the loss, and Rodebaugh got another Save.

Saturday would be a very different ballgame than it was on Friday night, with 4,330 in attendance at Shaw Park it would begin with a second pitch home run by Alonzo Harris which foreshadowed things to come. Even though Winnipeg did take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 1st, St. Paul would come back and hard. In the 2nd the Saints would tack on 5 runs, 3 from a Tony Thomas 3 run HR, Chad Christensen hit a solo home run and a Nate Hanson RBI single to make it 6-1. The 3rd wouldn't fare much better as Tony Caldwell drove yet another home run (2 Runs) and Alonzo Harris drove another to push the lead to 9-2 Saints after just 3 innings. From then on it would be a fairly calm game with Winnipeg scoring 3 in the 6th to make it 9-5, but St. Paul would score one run in each the 8th and 9th innings to finish it off with an 11-5 Saints victory. Saints starting Mark Hamburger went an astounding 8 innings of pitching giving up all 5 runs (4 earned) and taking the win, new Saints signee (we'll come back to that one) Gene Escat finished off the game, while Goldeyes starter Edwin Carl took the loss. Hamburger believe it or not is currently 5-0 in 7 starts with a 3.37 ERA, 26 K's in 56.1 IP with 2 no decisions!

The Sunday matinee game at Shaw Park couldn't have been better in 75 degree weather and a nice crowd of a little over 5,000 on hand to watch the game (Note the Goldeyes are the 2nd best drawing team in the league). A quiet first 2 innings happened and it was only in the 3rd that the scoreless game was broken open with a Nate Hanson RBI single. St. Paul tacked on 2 more in the 4th inning to put it up 3-0. The final runs of the game would be all scored in the 6th inning when Tony Caldwell drove a 3 run HR to make it 6-0, then in the bottom of the inning Winnipeg got there only run when David Rohm drove in Ridge Hoopii-Haslam to make it 6-1. Other eventful things saw Goldeyes LF Josh Romanski ejected in the 6th and Goldeyes Manager Rick Forney ejected in the 7th. St. Paul native and Concordia Golden Bear alum Kody Knaus pitched 6 full innings giving up just 1 run taking the win, while Goldeyes starter Ethan Carnes took the loss.

In the series in Winnipeg, St. Paul tied the franchise record of consecutive road wins at 8, they play a game set at Louis and Clark Park in Sioux City starting tonight and could annihilate the record by Wednesday. If you miss the Saints you can always listen to them here on "Club 1220" KLBB. On a player news front the Saints resigned relief pitcher Gene Escat to help bolster an already talented bullpen. Escat had entered camp with the Saints this season but decided to sign with Pirates de Campeche of the Mexican League (AAA/Unaffiliated) last season he spent most of the season with the Eastern League's Bowie Baysox (AA/Orioles). The Saints have placed Tanner Vavra on the DL (Hamstring) and released pitcher Alex Crawford. The Saints will be back in action at home starting Friday when they have a 6 game homestand. It all starts on Friday when they take on the Goldeyes at 7:05PM and help kick of Twin Cities Pride which features Friday Night Fireworks featuring the music of Queen. So come out and enjoy the fun and ALWAYS remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Don't come back another day: Saints vs X's seriesrecap

Well everybody sorry for the late update, the Saints came back to town (finally) after the longest road trip in franchise history the St. Paul Saints hosted a 3 game series against the Sioux City Explorers. The series would be Monday through Wednesday before St. Paul had their first scheduled off day on Thursday.

Monday night would open up the Series against the defending Central Division champion X's. Graham Johnson would take the start for Sioux City while Mark Hamburger took the mound looking to keep his undefeated streak alive this season. St. Paul would start out the game with 4 runs in the top of the 1st including a 3 runs HR by Willie Argo, they would add on another run in the 2nd to make it 5-0 Saints. The Fourth inning would see Sioux City finally get there first runs of the ballgame on a Tommy Mendonca 2 run home run to make it 5-2. Sioux City would add yet another 3 runs in the 6th to tie up the game at 5. Saints closer Ryan Rodebaugh would come in and pitch to perfect innings for St. Paul in the 8th and 9th innings, he would be helped out in the bottom of the 9th with an Alonzo Harris walk off home run that gave the Saints a 6-5 win over the X's.

Game two of the series would be scheduled for Tuesday night at 7:05 but the rain would keep on comin' forcing the first ever postponement/rain out in CHS Field history. The game would be played on Wednesday as the first part of a 7 inning doubleheaders. In the opening game of the doubleheader Robert Coe would take the mound for St. Paul and Dylan Rheault for the X's. It would be a fairly tame game for the first 5 innings. Angelo Songco would drive a home run in the second to make it 1-0, Sioux City would tie it up at 1 in the 4th while the Saints would make it 2-1 in the bottom of the inning to make it 2-1. Again the X's would tie it up at 2 in the top of the 5th and THAT is where the craziness would begin. Sioux City came into the top of the 6th inning and would score a massive 6 runs, all driven in with small ball play, to make it 8-2 Explorers. The Saints would score 4 from a Tony Caldwell home run and and a 3 run Tony Thomas home run to make it 8-6. It wouldn't be enough as the Saints would fall to Sioux City 8-6 in game 1.

Game two would be played on Wednesday night at nearly 9PM to decide the series and finish out the doubleheader in another 7 inning contest. Cody Scarpetta would take the hill for the Saints and Ryan Zimmerman for the Explorers. Sioux City would score first in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. That would be the X's only run of the night as St. Paul would start to steamroll them starting with 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. The Saints would put up 1 run in each the 4th and 5th innings and put down 2 more in the 6th inning. The constant barrage of runs would make the final score 7-1 Saints, the doubleheader would be split and St. Paul would win yet another series and move to a record of 19-9 leading Winnipeg in the North by 3.5 Games.

Speaking of Winninpeg that's where they're heading, the Saints start a quick 6 game road trip with games in Winnipeg on Friday at 7PM, Saturday at 6PM and Sunday afternoon at 1. After the 3 games at Shaw Park in Winnipeg the Saints will head South to Lewis and Clark Park for a final 3 game bout with the Sioux City Explorers. Those games will be played Monday-Wednesday all at 7 PM. If you miss the Saints don't worry as you can watch the action from the series in Winnipeg (via the Winnipeg Goldeyes) on americanassociationbaseball.tv and catch ALL the games here on "Club 1220" KLBB. They'll also be back at home again with a 6 game homestead starting Friday the 24th. We'll be back to recap Winnipeg and don't forget the American Association All Star Game is in town this season I know we'll be there. As always remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Down Goes Tweety: Series Recap at Sioux Falls

After a long trip there were just 4 games to and this time close to home when the bus pulled in to Sioux Falls Stadium in Sioux Falls, SD. The St. Paul Saints would meet up with the Sioux Falls Canaries for the second time this season in a 4 game Thursday through Sunday series. It would be marked with 4 straight days of 90 degree plus temps at the Birdcage.

The opening game of the series on Thursday night would see St. Paul have just rode the bus 700+ miles from Amarillo, TX to Sioux Falls. A nice crowd of 2,404 would make there way out in the 94 dog heat to watch the game which saw Robert Coe take the mound against Stephen Bougher. St. Paul would score first in the 2nd inning when Aaron Gretz drove in Tony Thomas to make it 1-0. It would go 2-0 in the 4th when Aaron Gretz would again drive in a run with this time it being Mike Gilmartin, the Saints would make it 3-0 in the 5th when Tony Thomas would drive in Brady Burzynski. Sioux Falls wouldn't give up that easily with a 2 run Frank Martinez HR in the bottom of the 5th inning. St. Paul would pull it up to 4-2 when Gilmartin drove in Hanson in the 7th, again Sioux Falls would score one in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-3. Burzynski put in an RBI driving in Alonzo Harris to make it 5-3. St. Paul would give up one in the 9th to make it 5-4 which is where it ended. Robert Coe would take the win (3-0) Bougher the loss and Ryan Rodebaugh would take his 6th save of the season.

Game 2 would be a 4:06 marathon game and would be the longest 9 inning game in franchise history for the Saints on a scorching hot night. St. Paul would open up with 4 runs in the 1st which included a first pitch 2 run blast by Tony Thomas over the left field wall. St. Paul wouldn't hold the lead long as Sioux Falls would score one in the 1st and 4 in the 2nd to make it 5-4 Canaries after 2. Pitching wasn't a strong point for either club as it took a combined 9 pitchers (5 for SF 4 for STP) to complete the game with only Siverio lasting more than 2.2 IP. The Saints wouldn't stop scoring as they would get 1 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, a whopping 6 in the 7th and yet another 4 in the 8th which was capped off by a first pitch Nate Hanson 3 Run HR and 2 batters latter another 1st pitch Tony Thomas HR. Sioux Falls would try and rally by scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th but would ultimately fall 18-10 in front of a crowd of 2,157.

Saturday night would be a lot shorter than Friday was but St. Paul would have no less fun with that contest. The first 2 innings went scoreless but the Saints broke it open in the 3rd when Tony Thomas drove in Burzynski to make it 1-0. The Saints would make it 3-0 in the 4th before Sioux Falls scored one to close the gap at 3-1 in the bottom half of the inning. The 6th inning would be another one not to forget for St. Paul as they pounded out 5 runs which was followed up in the 8th by yet another 4 runs. Sioux Falls would try and rally in the 9th but only managed 3 and fell to St. Paul 12-4 in Game 3 of the series. John Straka (3-1) would go 7 innings and take the win and Shawn Blackwell the loss for the Canaries.

Sunday night the Saints would look to sweep the Canaries with the series finale at the Birdcage as a crowd of 1,554 would come see the series ender in the sweltering 97 degree heat. St. Paul would start hot in the hot weather scoring 3 of there 4 runs in the 1st including a Tony Thomas 2 run shot. No runs would happen again until the 7th inning when Nate Hanson drove in Sam Maus to make it 4-0 which is where the game would stay. Former Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bear Kody Knaus would go 5.1 IP and take his first ever professional win while Sioux Falls starter Joe Bircher took the loss.

The Saints swept Sioux Falls at the Birdcage and are now 17-8 on the season, they have the best record in the league and lead the North Division by 3 Games over the rival Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. For all of you who have missed the Saints they'll be back at CHS Field in St. Paul Monday-Wednesday to take on the Sioux City Explorers. Monday night is the Metropolitain State University variety show featuring Mayor Chris Coleman and musical guest Har Mar Superstar. Tuesday night the fun continues with an Ugly Sweater Beanie Giveaway and finally on Wednesday is an Aviators Sunglasses giveaway. All Games in the series start at 7:05 PM but if you can't make it to the ballpark don't worry catch the action on americanassociationbaseball.tv or here on "Club 1220" KLBB radio! You can view the entire amount of pictures we took at http://s394.photobucket.com/user/dstroyer13/library/Saints%20Baseball%202016/Saints%20at%20Canaries%20June%2010th?sort=3&page=1. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

In to the Pan(handle) Texas AirHogs Series recap

After a series in Laredo the Saints would head 600+ miles north into the Texas Panhandle to take on the Texas AirHogs at Potter County Memorial Stadium in Amarillo. The AirHogs are a combination of the Amarillo ThunderHeads and the Grand Prairie AirHogs, they'll be playing 25 Games in GP and 25 in Amarillo. They'll only be combined for this season as the American Association is not playing inter league against the Can-Am League and it would have led to 13 clubs so the combination was necessary.

On Monday night the series would open up in Amarillo but it was by no means a pretty game. The Saints would start up 1-0 when Tony Thomas drove in Nate Hanson on an RBI Single but it would be the only lead that St. Paul would hold. In the 6 innings that starter John Straka pitched he would allow the AirHogs to score 10 times. The Saints would only score again with 2 runs in the 5th inning on the way to the AirHogs routing the Saints 12-3. John Straka would go 6 for the Saints striking out 7, walking 2, and giving up 10 runs (all earned) and getting the loss, while Ethan Carnes took the win for Texas.

Tuesday night would be game number 2 of the series in Amarillo, and it would go a little better than game one did on Monday night. However it started out a lot worse than the first as Texas would score a whopping 5 runs in the first inning. St. Paul would answer back with 2 of there own in the 4th inning as they scored one runner each on 2 consecutive RBI doubles to make it 5-2. Texas would drill the Saints for 4 more in the bottom of the inning to pull it to a 9-2 lead. From there on out the Saints offense would start to light it up with 2 runs in each the 6th, 7th, and 9th innings, Texas had scored 2 of there own in the 8th at that point to make it 11-6 AirHogs. The 6 runs the Saints scored towards the end would be marked by an Angelo Songco HR in the 6th and a Breland Almadova 2 run jack in the 7th. It wouldn't be enough as St. Paul would fall to Texas 11-8 and drop there first series of the season in Amarillo in front of a crowd of 658. Alec Crawford took the loss and Palmer Betts the win for Texas.

The series would end Wednesday night at Potter County Memorial Stadium with Mark Hamburger on the mound for St. Paul and Matt Shepard on the hill for Texas. It wouldn't be until the 3rd inning that the scoreless game would be broken open by Texas who would make it 3-0, including a 2 run HR by Burt Reynolds (no not the actor). St. Paul would finally get on the board with 3 runs in the 6th and another 2 in the 7th to make it 5-3. Texas would score 3 more in the 7th to take a 6-5 lead. The Saints would shoot the Hogs out of the air with 4 runs in the 8th inning including an Angelo Songco solo home run. Another run was scored in the 9th with an Alonzo Harris home run to make it 10-6 Saints where it would finish. Reliever Caleb Thielbar would get the win for St. Paul to break the 4 game losing streak as they leave the Lone Star State.

St. Paul finishes up the long 14 game road trip with a weekend series at The Birdcage (Sioux Falls Stadium) in Sioux Falls, SD against their North Division rival Sioux Falls Canaries Thursday-Sunday. We miss the Saints so much we're taking a roadtrip to Sioux Falls to support our St. Paul Saints! If your not in for the roadtrip and missing your St. Paul Saints don't worry as the Saints will be back at home next Monday-Wednesday to take on the defending Central Division champion Sioux City Explorers. All games can be listened to here and home games against the X's watched on americanassociationbaseball.tv if you can't make it out to the beautiful CHS Field in lower town St. Paul. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Another One Down: Saints @ Laredo Recap

Well yet another series is down for the St. Paul Saints, the Saints traveled down almost to Mexico to take on the Laredo Lemurs at Uni-Trade Stadium. The 3 game series is the second of 4 series on this long 14 game road trip.

The opener of the series on Friday night would go a lot smoother than it did in Joplin on Monday. The game would stay scoreless until the 3rd inning until Laredo opened it up with 2 runs on two straight at bats. It wouldn't be until the 6th Inning that the Saints scored on a Nate Hanson RBI Single but Laredo would put up another 2 in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1. But the Saints wouldn't say die as they would score 6 runs on 2 separate pitchers in 7th inning which would win them the game 7-4. Laredo would use 5 separate pitchers with Beckman getting the loss while Mark Hamburger (4-0) would pitch his second complete game win of the year.

Night number 2 would see Robert Coe take the mound for St. Paul against Scott Garner for the Lemurs. The Saints would start hot hot hot in the 2nd inning with Alonzo Harris driving in Gilmartin and Vavra on an RBI Single to CF. In the top of the 5th St. Paul would make it 3-0 with Alonzo Harris getting his 3rd home run of the season. But it wouldn't stay that way for long as the Saints gave up 2 in the bottom of the 5th and another 2 in the 6th to go down 4-3. That's where it would stay for the clubs with relievers Kyle Winkler taking the win for Laredo, former Twins pitcher Caleb Thielbar (0-1) taking the loss and getting the save was Jeff Inman.

Sunday night would be the final and deciding game of the series between these clubs. Concordia-St. Paul product Kody Knaus would make his first ever professional start for his hometown Saints against Danny Moskovits for the Lemurs. Just like the night before the Saints would open the 2nd inning with 2 runs, that would be the only time they would hold the lead as Laredo would get 3 runs in the 4th and a single run in each the 5th and 6th to make it 5-2. St. Paul would bring in 2 runs on a Willie Argo home run to pull it within 1. Laredo would catch a break in the 8th scoring on an RBI single and getting a run walked in to make it 7-4. St. Paul still had some fight left in them as Tony Thomas would drive in Angelo Songco while Tanner Vavra would drive in Gilmartin to make it 7-6. Aaron Gretz would strike out swinging to end the game. Knaus took the loss in his first start, Moskovits the win and Inman the Save. St. Paul would drop there first series of the season in Laredo to the Lemurs.

The longest road trip in the 24 year club history will continue with a 3 game series at Potter County Memorial Stadium in Amarillo, TX against the Texas AirHogs. For those of you who don't know the Amarillo ThunderHeads (formerly Sox) and Grand Prairie AirHogs have combined into one club this season due to the American Association being at 13 clubs and there being no inter league play for the first time since 2011 with the Can-Am League. The AirHogs play 25 in Grand Prairie (near Dallas) at The Ballpark in Grand Prairie and the other 25 at Potter County Memorial Stadium in Amarillo. This is the final time the Saints will play in Texas for the year and the second to last series before they come home. As always remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

The mess in Joplin, series recap against the Blasters

Well this series in Joplin has definitely not been what us, the Saints, or the Blasters have been expecting. St. Paul is in the midst of a 14 game that was supposed to start in Joplin on Monday night.

The opening game of the series starting on Monday was just not meant to be as rain forced the game to be postponed until Tuesday. With the game being moved to Tuesday it gave the Saints there first off day of the season as they were scheduled to play 28 straight games before having there first one.

A doubleheader was scheduled for Tuesday with both games being set for 7 innings. The game started on Tuesday at Joe Becker Stadium with Robert Coe taking the mound for the Saints and Josh Hodges on the hill for Joplin.The first inning would be scoreless, St. Paul however would open up the game in the 2nd inning scoring 4 runs including an Aaron Gretz home run. The game would be halted in the 3rd inning due to rain with the Saints up 4-0, and this is where the series got interesting. It would be resumed Wednesday in Joplin as part of a doubleheader but not at the Blasters Joe Becker Stadium rather across town at Missouri Southern's all turf 600 seat ballpark Warren Turner Field. The game wouldn't change much as the Saints would take the win 4-0 over Joplin improving to 9-3 on the year.

Game 2 would again be scheduled for 7 and take place at Warren Turner Field in Joplin with John Straka getting the call for St. Paul and Patrick Mincey pitching for Joplin. The Blasters would start the scoring in the 2nd inning going up 1-0, St. Paul would tie it up in the 4th when Willie Argo tripled to knock in Nate Hanson and that would be all the scoring for a while. The game wouldn't just go 7 but would go into extra innings past 9 and into the 11th inning. The American Association did get rid of the international extra inning rule they used last season which states that starting in the 11th each club would start with runners on 1st and 2nd. Even without the runners to start St. Paul would score as Aaron Gretz would bring in 3 runs on a double that made it 4-1 Saints and that's where it would stay as Ryan Rodebaugh would hold Joplin scoreless in the 11th. Chris Peacock would get the win for the Saints, Rodebaugh gaining his 4th Save of the season and Josh Evans taking the loss for Joplin.

Game 3 of the series on Day 4 of the trip would be scheduled for Joe Becker Stadium at 3PM with Cody Scarpetta climbing the wet hill in Joplin for the Saints and Ryan Calby pitching for Joplin. The 3PM game scheduled for 7 innings would be moved back to 4:30PM. St. Paul would start off in the 1st making it 1-0 on an RBI single by Breland Almadova. After 3 innings the score would be 2-1 Saints, St. Paul would make it 3-1 off a Tony Thomas Home Run. Joplin however would tie it up 3-3 in the 6th and end it with Brill getting to first on an error driving in Burling to win it 4-3 for Joplin.

The series would end later that night with Game 4 of the series later that night with St. Paul again starting out hot scoring 3 runs in the first and another in the 4th to make it 4-0. Joplin would make it closer to put it to 4-3 but St. Paul would finish with another run in the 6th to put the final 5-3 Saints. Alec Crawford took the win for St. Paul, Jake Negrete would take the loss and Ryan Rodebaugh would get his 5th Save of the season.

The 14 game road slate will continue Fri-Sun at Uni-Trade Stadium in Laredo, TX against the Lemurs. All 3 games are scheduled for 7:05 start times and can be watched via the Laredo Lemurs at http://laredolemurs.com/live-stream/ listened to here on the Saints Radio Partner "Club 1220" KLBB. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!