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!