Sioux Falls, SD – The Sioux Falls Canaries (15-5) completed a sweep of the St. Joe Blacksnakes (5-15) with a 9-2 win on Thursday night at the Birdcage. Pat Mahomes led the Birds pitching eight innings, giving up one unearned run on six hits and one walk, while striking out five.

The Blacksnakes got on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning. Curt Miaso led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second base on a single by Cody Palmer. Casey Gordon followed with a single to right field that advanced Miaso to third. On Gordon’s single, Wil Quintana overthrew home plate on his throw in, allowing Miaso to score and the error by the Canaries’ right fielder, gave the Blacksnakes an early 1-0 lead.

The Birds tied the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the fourth inning with a solo home run by Will Smith to left field, his second of the year.

The Canaries added another run to the board in the fifth inning. James Shanks doubled down the left field line and David Keesee followed with a single to score Shanks. Shanks run gave the Birds a 2-1 lead.

In the home half of the seventh inning the Birds pulled away. Angelo Fermin led off with his first home run of the season to give the Birds a 3-1 lead. Shanks and Quintana singled setting up Will Smith for his third home run of the year, and second of the night, to right field giving the Birds a 6-1 lead.

In the eighth inning, the Canaries loaded the bases on a double by Matt Imwalle, a single by Tim Marks and a walk by Angelo Fermin. Shanks hit a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Imwalle, Keesee followed with an RBI single to drive in Marks, and Quintana came through with a two-out RBI single scoring Fermin. The three additional runs extended the Birds to 9-1.

The Blacksnakes attempted to come back in the top of the ninth inning. Miaso’s second home run of the year gave the Blacksnakes one more run, but it was too little, too late in the 9-2 final.

Pat Mahomes (3-0) won his third start in a row for the Canaries. David Glick (0-2) suffered the loss for the Blacksnakes.

The Canaries start a three-game series versus the Sioux City Explorers on Friday, June 1 at the Birdcage. Following the game, the Canaries will light the sky with a post-game fireworks display.