ZIMMERMAN SHINES AS BIRDS WITHSTAND CLEBURNE RALLY
Cleburne, TX – Ryan Zimmerman threw seven strong innings on Wednesday and the Sioux Falls Canaries withstood a late Cleburne rally, topping the Railroaders 9-7 at La Moderna Field.
The Railroaders opened the scoring with a solo homerun in the second inning but the Birds responded with nine unanswered runs. Jabari Henry tied the game in the top of the third with an RBI single and Jordan Barth put Sioux Falls in front for good with a run-scoring triple an inning later. Trevor Achenbach and Josh Rehwaldt extended the lead with sacrifices, Barth added an RBI single and four more runs scored on Railroader errors to give the Birds a 9-1 cushion.
Cleburne scored twice in the bottom of the seventh and got within two with an eighth inning grand slam but Charlie Hasty fanned three during a four-out save to preserve the victory.
Matt Bottcher led the offense with three hits while Zimmerman struck out eight over seven innings to earn the win. The Canaries (51-38) will look to sweep the three-game series Thursday at 11:00am.
