Schaumburg, Winnipeg Both Up 2-0 in Series09/07/2006 5:43 AM - by Garrett Gosselink - Northern League
The Winnipeg Goldeyes and the Schaumburg Flyers have taken commanding two-games-to-none leads in the Northern League Semifinal Playoff Series. The Winnipeg Goldeyes defeated the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks 6-4 in game two of the West Division Semifinal at Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo. Game three is set for Friday in Winnipeg. The Flyers shut the Gary SouthShore RailCats out, winning 2-0 at Alexian Field in Schaumburg. Game three of the East Division Semifinal is set for Friday in Gary. In Fargo, three big hits and a solid pitching performance by Glenn Bott added up a to a 6-4 wire-to-wire victory for the Goldeyes. Bott scattered eight hits over seven and two-third innings, striking out seven. The Goldeyes totaled just six hits in the game. Greg Sain hit a two-run opposite-field homer in the first inning to give Winnipeg a 2-0 lead, Matt Mann extended the Goldeyes advantage to 4-1 with a two-run single in the third, and Corey Stang's bloop double in the fifth made the score 6-1 Winnipeg. Former Goldeye Harry Berrios led the RedHawks attempt to rally, batting 3-for-4 and driving in three runs. Berrios RBI-double in the bottom of the fifth brought Fargo-Moorhead to within 6-2, and Berrios' two-out, two-run double in the ninth brought the potential tying run to the plate for the RedHawks. But Winnipeg reliever Josh Kite retired Allen Mottram on a flyout to end the game. The Redhawks stranded 11 men on base. In Schaumburg, Sandy Almonte had three hits and four Schaumburg pitchers combined on a six-hitter as the Flyers blanked the RailCats. Almonte led off the fifth inning with a double, advanced to third after a flyout, and scored on Eric Cole's sacrifice fly. The Flyers added an insurance run in the seventh when Cole singled, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on an RBI-single by Ben Van Iderstine. Rick DeHart started for Schaumburg and scattered six hits over five-plus innings. The RailCats best threat came in the fourth, when Gary loaded the bases with one out, but DeHart induced Jay Pecci to hit into a 5-2-3 double play to end the inning. Three Flyers relievers did not allow a hit over the final four innings. Chris Andel worked the remainder of the sixth after DeHart yielded a leadoff single; Raymond Jenkins allowed just a walk over two innings; and Nate Cotton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. |