Short Post: Series Recap against Sioux Falls

Again everyone sorry for the short post, this will be an EXTREMELY short post about the series against the Sioux Falls Canaries, so let's get started!

The St. Paul Saints hosted the Sioux Falls Canaries Tuesday through Thursday at CHS Field in St. Paul. The Saints would come into the series having lost 2 in a row to the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Tuesday night would see the Saints start Alec Crawford while the tweety birds started Shawn Blackwell. St. Paul would drop the game and their 3rd in a row by a final score of 9-4. Wednesday would be a special matinee game starting at 1:05PM. One of the BIGGEST highlights of the game was in the bottom of the 4th inning when Breland Almadova successfully stole home from 3rd (which can be watched here)! The Saints took that game by a final score of 7-4, Mark Hamburger took yet another win to move to 7-0 with a 3.00 ERA. Ryan Rodebaugh took his 9th save of the season. On Thursday night the Saints would double up on the Canaries to take a final score of 6-3, Rodebaugh took his 10th save of the season that night.

The Saints take a quick road trip to CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, KS to take on the T-Bones. St. Paul currently sits at 28-13 and leads the North by 5 Games over Fargo-Moorhead, Kansas City is currently 16-24 and 4th in the Central down 6.5 games to Sioux City. The 3 game series can be watched live on americanassociationbaseball.tv thanks to the T-Bones or here on "Club 1220" KLBB via the Saints Broadcast Network. Don't worry as the Saints will be back from July 4th through the 6th taking on the Joplin Blasters. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

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!

T-Bones Series Recap

Another series down for our boys in Dodger Blue and Red. The St. Paul Saints took on the Kansas City T-Bones in a 4 game series at CHS Field in St. Paul. This is the second home series for the Saints in 2016 and the last before the long 14 game road trip.

The series opened up on Thursday night with Jeff Shields starting for St. Paul and Johnny Shuttlesworth for the T-Bones. Shields would take the Saints through 6 1/3 innings allowing just 2 Earned Runs but the Saints were down 7-0 going into the bottom of the 6th. In the 6th St. Paul would bring in there only runs of the game with Nate Hanson knocking in Angelo Songco and Tony Caldwell driving in Hanson. The Saints would fall by a final score of 10-2 in game one of the series. A crowd of 7,157 watched Shuttlesworth take the win and Shields (1-1) the loss.

Friday night was a whole different story for both clubs, KC would have Jeremy Strawn pitch while John Straka took the Hill for St. Paul. Straka would see his way through 6 full innings giving up all 5 Kansas City runs. The Saints offense would see Tony Thomas blast a 2 run shot in the 2nd making it 2-1, the 4th would see Thomas drive in Angelo Songco and on the next at bat Gilmartin drove in Thomas to make it 4-1 St. Paul. The Saints would make the lead even bigger in the 6th with Songco driving in Harris, Thomas bringing Almadova in and a single by Tanner Vavra to score Nate Hanson to make it 7-1. The crowd which was the first non sellout in CHS Field history of 6,252 saw John Straka (2-0) take the win Strawn with the loss and Ryan Rodebaugh get his 3rd Save of the year.

The series would be tied at 2 coming into Saturday night with Cody Scarpetta getting the nod for St. Paul and Jordan Cooper on the hill for the T-Bones. After an uneventful first 3 innings KC would strike first in the 4th inning making it 1-0. St. Paul struck back with 2 in the 5th and the clubs would continue to trade blows like heavyweight boxers until the night inning. The T-Bones would rally from behind with St. Paul up 4-2.Anthony Gallas would score Wiley and Frias on an error to tie it up at 4 all. But Tyler Massey put the nail in the coffin with a 2 run shot to make it 6-4 KC. Reliever Aaron Baker took the win and Ryan Rodebaugh the loss and his first blown save in front of a crowd of 7,220.

St. Paul would look to split the series with Kansas City coming into One Last Purple Game on Sunday evening. The players would take the field from Red Corvettes wearing purple Prince inspired jerseys. Veteran Pitcher Mark Hamburger took the mound for the boys in Purple while Casey Barnes started for the Steaks. Willie Argo would homer in the 2nd to make it 1-0 STP, there wouldn't be a run score in this pitchers duel until the 6th inning when Nate Hanson drove in Aaron Gretz to make it 2-0. Barnes took the game 6 and 1/3 innings allowing 2 runs while his replacement Evan DeLuca would allow 2 runs in the 7th inning as he went 1 2/3 innings. Those runs would be off a 2 run Nate Hanson long ball to make it 4-0 Saints. The most impressive part of the night went to Mark Hamburger who pitched a complete game allowing just 1 run, on 6 hits with 6 K's and no walks and the crowd which made a new franchise record with 10,443 fans showing up. Hamburger would stay perfect with yet another win and Barnes took the loss.

With a series split against Kansas City the Saints lead the North Division with a record of 8-3 and are 1.5 games over 2nd place Winnipeg. But St. Paul is about to get road worthy as after the largest crowd in franchise history they'll play the longest road trip in club history at 14 Games. The series starts at Joe Becker Stadium in Joplin, MO against the Blasters from May 30th-June 2nd, it continues in Laredo June 3rd-5th, moved to Amarillo against the Texas AirHogs from June 6th-8th and finishes at The Birdcage in Sioux Falls June 9th-12th. The Saints will be back at home from June 13th-15th against the Sioux City Explorers. You can catch all the road games here on "Club 1220" KLBB and some game will also air on americanassociationbaseball.tv. Just remember until next time Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Canaries Series Recap

Well the second series of the season has come to a close as the St. Paul Saints traveled to The Birdcage in Sioux Falls, SD to take on the archrival Canaries. The 3 game road trip was a short one for our boys as they'll be back home this weekend.

The series opened up on Monday night with the only 2 undefeated teams in the American Association coming in for a fight on each clubs 5th contest. Alec Crawford got his first start of the young season for the Canaries it was Stephen Bougher taking the mound. The game would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 4th inning when the Canaries broke the game open with a Blake Schmit Home Run and a RBI by Frank Martinez later in the inning to make it 2-0 Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls would make it 3-0 in the 6th inning with Blake Schmit getting an RBI single, Kody Knaus came in for St. Paul following that run and would shut down the Canaries the rest of the game. But offensively the Saints would not go down without a fight, as Nate Hanson would drive in Willie Argo on a sac fly in the 7th to make it 3-1. St. Paul would try and rally on closing pitcher Chase Johnson in the 9th as Nate Hanson would get an RBI Double and again drive in Willie Argo to make it 3-2, but that's where it would end as the rally would fall short. Stephen Bougher got the Win Alec Crawford would take the Saints first loss and Chase Johnson picking up his 2nd Save in front of a crowd of 1,822.

Tuesday night would see the 4-1 Saints match up with the now 5-0 Canaries. Mark Hamburger would make his Second start of the season against Misael Siverio who took the hill for Sioux Falls. The Canaries would break the game open early going up 3-0 on the Saints by the end of 2 innings. But the Saints pitching staff would not give up and went another 7 innings without letting a run! Now it was the offenses turn to shine, as Alonzo Harris would smash a solo home run (2nd of 2016) to make t 3-1 in the 3rd. But it would be the 6th when the shine really started glowing as Tony Caldwell would triple as the first batter against reliever Shane Street scoring 2 and making it a 3-3 ballgame, but Tanner Vavra would put in Caldwell on an RBI Single to make it 4-3 St. Paul after 6. In the 7th Breland Alamadova would strike with his 1st Home Run on the season to make it 5-3 which is where it ended on Tuesday night. Hamburger would take the win (2-0) Street the loss and Ryan Rodebaugh would get the Save (2) in front of a crowd of 2,056.

The finale and series decider on Wednesday night would see Robert Coe start for St. Paul and Shawn Blackwell for the Canaries. For the first time in the series the Saints would open up the game in the 1st as Tony Thomas would get an RBI Double to drive in Argo and Almadova while Tony Caldwell would drive in Angelo Songco on the next at bat to make it 3-0 Saints. No scoring would occur until Blake Schmit drove a 2 run home run in the 5th to make it 3-2, but the Saints high powered bats weren't finished. Mike Gilmartin would make it 4-2 on a home run in the 6th, Willie Argo made it 5-2 on a sac fly in the 7th. The 8th inning would see the game move up to 7-2 and in the 9th another 2 runs were scored as it was 9-2 St. Paul. Sioux Falls would try to rally in the 9th inning o Saints reliever Chris Peacock as they pulled in 3 runs, but that's where it would end with a 9-5 win and an overall series win for St. Paul (6-1). Robert Coe took the Win (2-0) and the loss went to Canaries starter Shawn Blackwell.

After a short 3 game series away from home that drew a total of 6,025 fans to Sioux Falls Stadium, St. Paul will return for 4 games at CHS Field against the Kansas City T-Bones. The series opens up on Thursday with Military Appreciation Night, Friday is Friday Night Fireworks featuring the music of commercial jingles, Saturday is an Angry Birds helmet giveaway, and it's capped off with One Last Purple Game on Sunday featuring an all Purple Fireworks SuperShow. You might want to get tickets before withdrawl sets in as the Saints will take to the road for a 14 game road trip which is the longest in Franchise history, The road trip will feature 4 games against the Joplin Blasters (May 30-June 2nd), 3 against the Laredo Lemurs (June 3rd-5th), another 3 against the Texas AirHogs (6th-8th at Potter County Memorial Stadium in Amarillo, TX) and finishing out with 4 against the Sioux Falls Canaries (June 9th-12th). You can catch the homestand on www.americanassociationbaseball.tv with the Thu-Sat games starting at 7:05 PM and the Sunday game starting at 5:05 PM. And as always thanks for checking us out and remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

RailCats Series Wrap Up

The Saints would open the 2016 campaign looking for a repeat of the success of 2015 with the opening series at home at the beautiful CHS Field in St. Paul against the Gary SouthShore RailCats.

The opening game of the series on Thursday night would see Veteran pitcher and local product (Mounds View HS and Mesabi Range CTC) Mark Hamburger take the mound for St. Paul facing the Veteran Charlie Rosario for Gary. The game would start out with a fair uneventful first 3 and a half innings with Hamburger recording 2 K's and no walks and Rosario also grabbing 2 K's and no walks. That all changed in the Bottom of the 3rd as Caldwell would lead off the inning reaching second on an error by GSS CF Tillman Pugh, Harris would line out but Almadova would reach first and move Caldwell to 3rd on an error by SS Jarred Mederos. Songco would then be walked to load the bases but nothing would come with it as Thomas would go down swinging. In the 4th the Saints would finally start scoring after a walk and a single Tanner Vavra would sacrifice bunt to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Caldwell would then single to load the bases again followed by a 2 run RBI single by Alonzo Harris to make it 2-0 Saints. With Caldwell on 3rd Almadova would single to drive him in and put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out, Harris would steal 3rd and be driven in by another bunt by Willie Argo to make it 4-0 Saints. The RailCats would score 1 in the 5th as Newell would single to drive in Tillman Pugh. However in the bottom of the inning with Nate Hanson on first Mike Gilmartin would blast the first homer of the season to make it 6-1 St. Paul. Alex Gunn who replaced Rosario at P in the 6th would give up 2 runs in the 7th as Vavra singled to score both Hanson and Gilmartin making it 8-1 Saints but would be tagged out trying to advance to 2nd. Former Twins P Caleb Thielbar who would make his first apperence in his 2nd go around with the Saints, it would be relatively unsuccessful as he would allow 3 hits, 2 runs, while walking 1 and striking out no one in the 8th. With the Saints up 8-3 heading into the 9th Ryan Rodebaugh would take over for Thielbar and would strike out 2 out of 3 batters to finish the game. Hamburger would take his first win of the season and Rosario would be credited with the loss.

Game 2 of the series would see the Saints wearing special Ziggy Stardust jerseys as Robert Coe (LS-4) took the mound for The Good Guys starting his 5th season with the ballclub against Eric Eadington for the RailCats. Unlike game 1 this one would start with a BANG! right away in the 1st. As Jose Sermo would get an RBI Single to make it 1-0 Gary. But the Saints would make a bigger splash in the bottom of the 1st as Eadington (who pitched only a single inning in 2015) would walk the bases loaded and give up a run to Nate Hanson who reached on a Fielders Choice. The damage wasn't done as Thomas would drive in Willie Argo on an RBI Single, then after a strikeout he would walk in 2 more runs adding further fuel to the fire before throwing a wild pitch which allowed the runners to advance and a run to score. The inning would only end with Alonzo Harris grounding out with the Saints batting around, St. Paul would take a 5-1 lead out of inning 1. The next big change came in the 3rd with Kevin Osaki replacing Eric Eadington, who would finish with 2.0 IP walking 6 striking out 3 and allowing 5 runs on 1 hit. Another run wouldn't be scored until the Top 6th with 1 on and 2 down Cody Wheeler would replace Robert Coe as pitcher but on his first batter would allow an RBI Single making it 5-2, before allowing another single and walking Brennan Metzger to load the bases. He would make it out of the jam by striking out Hamilton. In the bottom of the 6th Tony Caldwell, on his second pitch, would blast a the Saints 2nd Home Run of the season on a shot to the porch in right field. In the 9th Andy Crawford, who was called on in the 8th, would strike out the first 2 batters before allowing a double and then an RBI Single to Elbert Devarie who would then steal 2nd before Marquis Riley would be walked. Ryan Rodebaugh would be called on to finish out his second straight game but would load the bases by hitting Newell on the first pitch. With the bases loaded and 2 down a wild finish ensued, Tillman Pugh would blast a shot off the wall into right field earning himself and RBI Triple, all the runners from Gary would try and make it home with Devarie and Riley scoring but RF Breland Almadova would use 2B Sam Maus as a cutoff man to get the ball just in time to the catcher Tony Caldwell to tag out the RailCats Cameron Newell to win the game 6-5. Robert Coe would take his first win on the season going 5.2 IP with 5 walks and 4 K's allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. Eadington would take the loss for the RailCats and Ryan Rodebaugh would get his 1st Save in 2016.

The Saints would be looking for a series victory coming into game 3 of 4 against the RailCats on Saturday night which was Star Wars night. With the Saints sending out Jeff Shield entering his 3rd season with the Saints against Karl Triana for Gary. Just like the night before the RailCats would score in the Top 1st to make it 1-0, however in the bottom of the inning against a man playing his first pro game since 2013 the Saints would make the RailCats pay scoring 4 runs. In the 2nd it would get even worse as St. Paul scored 7 runs to put the game to an 11-1 score. The 3rd inning would see that lead go up to 13-1 with back to back home runs by Angelo Songco and Nate Hanson, but Gary struck back with 3 runs of there own in the 4th making it 13-4. St. Paul would bring out the bats and make it 18-4 at the end of 6 including home runs by Angelo Songco (2nd of the game) and Tony Thomas in the 5th. Kody Knaus would come out to finish the game for St. Paul in his first pro appearance after graduating from Concordia-St. Paul in May, he would allow 4 runs but St. Paul would win the game 18-8 and go to 3-0 on the season. Jeff Shield would take the win for the Saints and the loss would go to Karl Triana for the RailCats.

Sunday evening the Saints would take the field looking to go 4-0 on the season on Dog Day at CHS Field. John Straka would take the mound for his first start of the season on the opposite side it would be Travis McGee starting for the RailCats. St. Paul would bring Gary down 1-2-3 and not allow a first inning run for the first time since Friday with Straka pitching 4 shutout and no hit innings, however that didn't slow down the Saints bats as they came out barking with 3 runs in the first. with Alonzo Harris (1st HR of 2016) and Nate Hanson (2nd HR of 2016) would each blast 3 run shots to make it a whopping 9-0 Saints after just 4 innings of play! Gary would bring in 4 in the top of the 5th inning as Tillman Pugh would put away a HR while Matt Hibbert would drive in 1 and Jeremy Hamilton would drive in another 2, but the Saints wouldn't make it easy as Alonzo Harris would get an RBI to make it 10-4 Saints after 5 full innings. The only other run scored for the night was in the 8th inning as Elbert Devarie would drive in a run for Gary to make it 10-5. A 10-5 series sweeping victory would wrap it all up at CHS Field as John Straka took the win (1-0) and Travis McGee the loss (0-1). Over the course of the 4 game series the Saints have drawn a grand total of 32,652 in the first 4 games of 2016 for an average of 8,163 per game!

The Saints 2016 campaign continues as they'll make there way to another 4-0 club and North Divsion rival the Sioux Falls Canaries. The 3 game series kicks off on Monday night at 7:05 PM at "The Birdcage" Sioux Falls Stadium in Sioux Falls, SD. Each game will begin at 7:05 and can be heard here on on the Official Radio Home of the St. Paul Saints "Club 1220" KLBB. Don't worry they won't be gone for long as the Saints return home for another 4 game stretch from Thursday-Sunday against the Kansas City T-Bones. Promos include Military Appreciation Night on Thursday, Friday Night Firework featuring the music of commercial jingles on Friday, Saturday is an Angry Bird helmet giveaway, and on Sunday the Saints will play One Last Purple Game in honor of the late great Prince, it will feature an all purple Fireworks Supershow with his music after the game. I thank you all for reading and until next time ALWAYS remember that Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Pre-Season Update #3

Well the St. Paul Saints pre-season is over and the regular season starts Thursday night at home against the Gary SouthShore RailCats. The Saints have managed a few more moves since my last update in April. One of those was re-signing Angelo Songco, his contract was bought by the Dodgers however he was released by them shortly after and the Saints picked him back up. The Saints also managed a big trade in the last few days as Manager George Tsamis traded the rights for Brett Harper (who is currently in the Mexican League) to the Sioux City Explorers in return for a much needed starting pitcher in former Chaska High School start John Straka. Straka went 11-3 with a 3.27 ERA in 20 starts for the X's last season.

The Saints have finished there exhibition season, playing 3 Games against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, 1 Game against the Metro-Minny All Stars, and 2 Games against the Sioux Falls Canaries. Opening up the exhibition schedule the Saints would meet the RedHawks at Bill Taunton Stadium in Willmar, MN (home of the Willmar Stingers of the Northwoods League) St. Paul would come away with a 3-2 win on that Sunday afternoon. On the following Thursday they would meet again at Bucky Burgau Field in Moorhead, MN (home of the Concordia College Cobbers of the NCAA Division III MIAC) but the Saints would drop the game to the home club 12-11. The following afternoon the clubs would meet at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo and yet again the Saints would fall to the host club 8-2. On Saturday the Saints would meet the All Stars of the Amateur Metro-Minny League at Schumacher Field in Forest Lake, MN. St. Paul would use 4 pitchers that afternoon in Forest Lake and starter Robert Coe would pitch 6 innings and strike out a whopping 14 batters in the Saints 9-2 route of the Metro-Minny All Stars. St. Paul then finished out the season against the Sioux Falls Canaries and in game 1 on Monday Night in front of a crowd of 4,579 and took back a 5-1 win, and in the final game of the exhibition season the Saints would face Sioux Falls again in front a crowd a local school kids in a special 11:35 AM start time. The game would bring the Saints down 4-2 in the bottom of the 9th and end with a doozy as Alonzo Harris would smash a 3 run HR to win the game 5-4.

The Saints finish the exhibition season with a record of 3-3, Thursday Night at 7:05 against the Gary SouthShore RailCats begins the quest for the Saints to repeat as American Association North Division Champions. The Saints have won 5 division championships (Northern League 1997, 2000, and 2003 American Association 2006 and 2013) and 4 League championships (Northern League 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2004) in there 23 Year History. Be there Thursday Night when Year 24 begins. Always remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Pre Season Update #2 - April

The Saints have lost some key players this off season. Both 1B Angelo Songco and C Vinny DiFazio had there contracts purchased by the Dodgers, while SS Anthony Phillips was purchased by the Angels. Both Songco and DiFazio have been assigned to the Tulsa Drillers (AA Texas League) while Phillips has been assigned to the Salt Lake Bees (AAA Pacific Coast League). The Saints also lost there top 3 pitchers from last year Kramer Sneed to Leones de Yucatán, Dustin Crenshaw to Vaqueros Laguna, and staff Ace Pedro Hernandez to Rieleros de Aguascalientes (all of the Mexican League), however that doesn't mean that Saints have lost all there key players. Returning to the defending Northern Division Champions will be speed demon and CF Alonzo Harris (who holds the single season stolen base record for the club), P Robert Coe who is 9 wins shy of the franchise record, OF Willie Argo. New signings for this season which include IF Tony Thomas who played AA for multiple organizations last year, Brett Harper who played in the Mexican League last season, former Twins Prospect and Gopher alumni 3B Nate Hanson, former Twins P who last played for the Saints in 2011 Caleb Thielbar, and last years Carolina League saves leader Cody Wheeler.

The St. Paul Saints will open their exhibition slate on Sunday May 8th at 2:00 PM at Bill Taunton Stadium in Willmar. The regular season begins just like last season at home on Thursday May 19th at 7:05PM against the Gary SouthShore Railcats. We look forward to the beginning of the season in May and remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Pre Season Update

Hi everyone my name is Ashle I will be taking over SAINTSball blog from here on out as Chris had some health problems near the middle of last season. But the good news is SAINTSball is BACK for a 2nd season. After this I'll be doing 1 maybe 2 posts each month until the season starts, once the season begins I will make one post at the end of each series. Special posts will be done on an irregular basis if needed and if the SAINTS make the playoffs after each playoff game. I also have another blog over at katosportsgirl.blogspot.com you can check out updates for both blogs and other things on twitter @katosportsgirl. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

St. Paul vs Sioux City X's Recap

Another series done another series won for the boys from St. Paul. The St. Paul Saints came out and took there 10th consecutive series in the American Association against the Sioux City Explorers.
On Monday night everything didn't start off to well for the Saints as Sioux City put up 2 runs in the top of the inning when Noah Perio Jr got to first on an error that allowed Michael Lang and Rene Tosoni to score for the X's. In the bottom of the inning DiFazio would single to center and Steve Nikorak would score to cut the lead in half, but the Saints wouldn't let up there as they would score 1 in the 4th to tie it and 3 in the 5th to take a 5-2 lead. The X's would try to come back in the 9th by tacking on 2 more but that's where it would stay Saints win game 1 5-4 in front of 7,690 fans. Kramer Sneed went an outstanding 8 innings, getting the win, allowing 2 runs (0 ER) on 5 hits, striking out 2 and walking none. Dylan Chavez took the Save, while Jeff Marquez took the loss going 7 innings allowing 5 runs (4 ER) on 7 hits, with 4 strikeouts and no walks.
On Tuesday Night the Saints would put up the first run in the 1st inning when Ian Gac took a sac fly to left and Steve Nikorak scored on it to make it 1-0 Saints. The X's would tie it up at 1 when Tommy Mendonca singled to right to score Noah Perio Jr, however it wouldn't stay tied for long as the Saints scored 3 runs in the 4th inning to make it 4-1. Sioux City would come back and put up 2 more runs in the top of the 5th before scoring 1 more in the 8th to tie the game. But in the bottom of the inning Mitch Elliott was walked to first 1 batter later Vinny DiFazio jacked the game winning home run to right field to give the Saints a 6-4 win. 7,798 fans came out to CHS Field to see the Saints take win number 26 on the year. Michael Zouzalik was credited with the win, Dylan Chavez the save, and Rob Wort the loss for the X's.
A special matinee game was played at 1:05 PM on Wednesday afternoon (the first of only 4 this season) but this was a very different feeling for Saints fans than normal. With no scoring through the first 3 innings the Explorers took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 4th. The Saints would put 1 up in the bottom of the inning but Sioux City put up yet another in the 6th to make it 3-1 X's. In the 7th St.Paul would cut it down to 3-2 but the X's pulled it back up to 4-2 in the 9th. But the bottom of the 9th was very different, Rob Wort came in to pitch for the Sioux City Explorers  he struck out the first batter Joey Paciorek, then walked Robert Youngdahl. With Youngdahl on first Jose Flores came in to pitch for Wort, his first batter Dan Kaczrowski singled on him, then he struck out Mitch Elliott. With 2 on and the bases loaded Steve Nikorak got an infield single to load the bases but on that play Robert Youngdahl rounded 3rd and came back only to be tagged out on a baserunning error. St. Paul would lose that game 4-2 in front of 7,792 fans. Saints Ace Pedro Hernandez took the loss, while Jon Straka took the win and Jose Flores the save for the X's.
St. Paul now heads north to Newmann Outdoor Field in Fargo, ND to take on North Division rival Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in a 4 game series Thursday-Sunday. Game times are set for 7:02 PM on Thursday and Friday, 6:00 PM on Saturday, and 1:00 PM on Sunday. St. Paul will send RHP Robert Coe out to start against F-M's Taylor Stanton. You can catch the games LIVE on americanassociationbaseball.tv or listen to the Saints radio broadcast HERE on 1220 AM KLBB. Until next time remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Saints vs Railcats Recap

Alright everyone another series down and another series win! The St. Paul Saints are 9-0 when it comes to winning a series this year and a highly successful record of 24-5 on the season, that's right through just 29 games they have already won HALF of the 48 wins they accomplished ALL SEASON LAST YEAR!!!! Now on to the recap of each game in the series.
Friday night St. Paul started off a 3 game series with the Gary SouthShore Railcats (first game in a 6 game homestand) and that start went off with a BANG as the Saints would power through with 8 runs in just the first inning alone. Gary would score 1 run each in the 3rd and 7th innings meaning that just the first inning alone would get the Saints the win but they didn't stop there. The Saints would score 2 in the 4th, 1 in the 5th and 6th, and 3 in the 7th inning to blow out the Railcats 15-2 in front of 8,388 fans! Former Major Leaguer and current Saints staff ace Pedro Hernandez took the win going a solid 7 innings while Charle Rosario took the loss for Gary that night.
Things weren't so sweet on Saturday night however. The Saints did manage to score a single run in the first inning but the Railcats would score 1 in the 2nd and 3 more in the 3rd to make it 4-1 Gary. St. Paul wouldn't give up right away as they score 2 in the bottom of the 3rd, the first being on a Vinny DiFazio solo home run, after a fly out by Ian Gac to center Angelo Songco jacked another one out of the park to make it 4-3. But in the 6th Roger Bernal would single and send in Michael Schroeder from 2nd to make it 5-3. St. Paul was down but not out in the 9th as an error and failed pickoff attempt would have them score there 4th and 5th runs sending the game to extra innings. With nothing happening in the 10th it would go to the international rule in the 11th which has not been kind to the Saints this season. Gary would pile 3 on while the Saints couldn't score any making this an 8-5 win for the Railcats in front of a crowd of 8,312. Ryan Rodebaugh took the loss while Paul Mittura got the win.
A series victory came down to game 3 on Sunday evening at CHS Field. A replica St. Paul Saints home jersey was given out to the first 750 adults and first 750 kids each. Even though the Railcats got the games first run in the top of the 1st St. Paul would get 3 in there bottom of the inning starting with Steve Nikorak's solo blast. That homer was followed up by a DiFazio single and an Ian Gac home run. St. Paul led the game 7-2 heading into the bottom 6th inning when Mike Kvasnicka and Joey Paciorek would hit back to back jacks over the Spire Home Run Porch in right field and onto the GMF Building behind it for the Saints to take a 9-2 lead. Gary would put up 1 more run in the 8th but went down 1-2-3 in the 9th inning. 5 home runs hit in one game (4 by the Saints 1 by the Railcats) was quite an amazing feat with the Saints winning in front of another huge crowd of 8,218 fans. Dustin Crenshaw took the win going 7 solid innings giving up 2 runs (1 earned) 7 hits no walks and struck out 4, while Rene Solis struggled through 5 and 1/3 innings giving up 14 hits 9 runs (7 earned) walking 3 and striking out just 3.
The St. Paul Saints next opponent is there toughest challenge yet as the 22-7 Central Division leading Sioux City Explorers come into town. Monday and Tuesday games are 7:05 PM start times while a special Wednesday matinee game at 1:05 PM. You can head over to saintsbaseball.com or call the Saints box office to get tickets. And if  you can't do that you can catch the games LIVE over on americanassociationbaseball.tv or listen to them here on 1220 AM KLBB. If you wanna catch me at a game the next one I'll be at is Wednesday afternoon vs Sioux City. Thanks for reading and remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Saints vs Goldeyes

Well the St. Paul Saints took 2 out of 3 games against the Goldeyes in Winnipeg this week. On Monday night St. Paul would knock off the Goldeyes 8-1 at Shaw Park in front of a crowd of 4,011. Tuesday night would be a different story however as the hosting Goldeyes would take out the best team in the American Association 4-3 in 11 innings in front of a crowd of 6,711. St. Paul who scored first in inning 1 to go up 1-0 gave up that lead in the 6th and 7th and were down 3-1. But Willie Argo would use the first at bat in the 8th to bring it up to 3-2 on a solo home run. Later in the inning DiFazio would drive in Gac to tie up the ball game. But it would be in the 11th inning it would change, with the international extra inning rule being used (runner starts at second base, if he scores it does not count as an earned run) St. Paul would not score in the top of the inning. Winnipeg on the other hand would bunt the runner to 3rd and hit an outfield single to drive him home and win the game. St. Paul would take game 3 of the series by a score of 5-4 in front of 7,023 fans to take the series 2 games to 1 and continue there series winning streak.
The Saints have the night off tonight and will start a 6 game homestand tomorrow against the Gary SouthShore Railcats (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and end it Monday through Wednesday against the Sioux City Explorers with a special Wednesday matinée. You can catch the games LIVE FOR FREE on americanassociationbaseball.tv or take in a game at CHS Field. Remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Saints vs Joplin, Shikoku Island and road series at Sioux Falls

Finally fixed my computer issues so now just a quick recap of the last 7 games.
St. Paul would host the Joplin Blasters June 8th through 10th. The first game of the series had the Saints knock out the Blasters in a tight game with a final score of 5-4. Even though the Saints took the victory it would be the first time all season they didn't sell out with a still stellar crowd of 5,639 coming out to CHS Field. Tuesday night would have St. Paul beat Joplin 8-3 in front of 6,811 fans. Wednesday would be a busy day for the Saints as they played the Shikoku Island League Plus All Stars, St. Paul was made up of many former College players from the area and the only regular Saints players who played that afternoon was Sam Maus and Steve Nikorak. However the Shikoku Island League Plus All Stars blanked the Saints 6-0 in that exhibition game. The All Stars are currently out east taking on Can-Am League teams and after their 17 game series is all said and done we'll do a recap of that as well. That night the Saints made up for it by beating the Blasters 9-4 in front of 7,382 fans and sweeping yet another series.
Thursday night the Saints and Canaries were rained out prompting a doubleheader on Friday. St. Paul would drop game 1 3-0 to the Canaries being shutout for the first official time all season. However St. Paul would beat Sioux Falls 6-2 in front of 3,519 fans. On Saturday a crowd of 2,578 at Sioux Falls Stadium would see the Saints beat the Canaries 9-3 to take the 3rd game of a 4 game series in Sioux Falls. The final game of the series on Sunday saw the Saints beat Sioux Falls 5-3 in front of a crowd of 2,404. St. Paul has currently won every series this season and sits on top of the American Association's North Division at a record of 20-3 a whopping 9.5 games ahead of Sioux Falls and are currently the best team in the league.
St. Paul will finish out the 7 game road trip with 3 game against the Goldeyes and Shaw Park in Winnipeg, MB. The Saints will return home with a 6 game homestand taking on the Gary SouthShore Railcats Friday though Sunday, and the Sioux City Explorers Monday through Wednesday.
Remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!

Saints vs Canaries Recap

Well the St. Paul Saints did it again this weekend against Sioux Falls at CHS Field. The Saints would take 2 out of 3 against the Canaries which started on Friday night in St. Paul.
The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Friday night when Willie Argo drove in Alonzo Harris and just two batters later Mike Kvasnicka would drive in Argo to make it 2-0. In the 3rd Kvasnicka would drive in Argo again to make it 3-0 as he was put out on an infield ground ball. The low scoring game would stay that way the whole night with the Canaries driving in their only run in the 6th. Pedro Hernandez would take the win go 6 innings giving up 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 5 and walking just 1. Joe Bircher took the loss for the Canaries going 7 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs (2 E) on 4 hits with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. The save was given to the Saints Ryan Rodebaugh as 8,020 fans saw the Saints take win number 9 in a row.
On Saturday night it was another fast low scoring pitchers duel. St. Paul only managed to score 2 runs on a crazy 11 hits. Sioux Falls only managed 2 hits, the first being on the opening batter of the game in which he would get out in a 6-4-3 DP the second was in the 2nd inning on a triple and he would be out on a 7-2 double play when Wing lined out to Willie Argo in LF who then fired the ball directly to the catcher Joe Paciorek. Paciorek lept and tagged out the runner, Richard Stock, who stormed home from 3rd after tagging up! Dustin Crenshaw preceded to get out the last 22 batters in a row to end the game with a 2 hit, no walk, complete game gem relying on only 2 K's!! A great crowd (including myself) of 7,982 was on hand to witness that game.
However Sunday evening wouldn't be so kind to the Saints even though another sellout crowd of 7,510 for their 7th sellout in a row. Sioux Falls would gain revenge on the Saints winning 6-2 with 14 hits and St. Paul having 2 errors.
The Saints next opponent is the expansion Joplin Blasters, they'll play Monday-Wednesday night at 7:05PM at CHS Field in Lowertown St. Paul. Plus on Wednesday afternoon a special FREE exhibition game will be played against the Shikoku Island League Plus All Stars from Japan before they head out east to play the Can-Am League teams. That game will take place at Noon on Wednesday at CHS Field. I'll be at both games on Wednesday. You can listen to the game here on 1220 KLBB or on americanassociationbaseball.tv. Remember Fun Is Good and GO SAINTS!