Birds Outslug Gary SouthShore in Series Opener
Sioux Falls, SD – Sioux Falls and Gary SouthShore combined to hit nine homeruns on Friday as the Canaries outlasted the RailCats 13-12 at Sioux Falls Stadium.
Gary raced out to a 4-0 lead courtesy of three longballs but the Birds responded with seven unanswered runs. Darnell Sweeney drove in three with his fourth roundtripper of the season and Jordan Barth homered on the next pitch to tie the game.
Marshall Rich led off the fourth inning with a single and scored on a double from Barth. Welington Dotel plated a run with a sacrifice groundout before Jabari Henry singled to give the Birds a 7-4 lead. The RailCats, though, scored the next three runs to tie the game but Henry ripped a two-run homerun to put Sioux Falls back in front.
Gary SouthShore got a run back in the top of the seventh inning before Dotel doubled home two in the bottom half. The RailCats responded with a four-run eighth inning to take a 12-11 lead but the Birds tied the game in their half on an RBI single from Wyatt Ulrich before the go-ahead run scored on an error.
Gary threatened in the top of the ninth but left the tying run at third base as Jerryell Rivera earned his first save.
Sweeney, Barth and Henry each finished with three hits as the Birds collected 18 as a team. Sioux Falls is now 8-12 and will return to action Saturday at 5:35pm.
