BIRDS OUTSCORED IN 11-10 SLUGFEST

Fort Worth, TX – The Sioux Falls Canaries (1-2) and Fort Worth Cats (2-1) went back-and-forth all night on Friday before the Cats prevailed in an 11-10 slugfest. Nelson Teilon hit a three-run homer that proved to be the difference for the Cats in the bottom of the eight.

The Canaries got on the board in the top of the first inning. Kennard Bibbs led off with a single and Tim Hutting followed with a walk to put runners on first and second. Hutting advanced to second when Bibbs was thrown out on a double steal, and Hutting took third on a single by Will Smith. Ben Van Iderstine followed with a sacrifice fly to score Hutting and the Birds took an early one-run lead.

Fort Worth bounced back in the bottom of the second inning. Brian Fryer reached on a fielding error by Canaries shortstop Tim Hutting, and Charles Carter followed with his second home run in as many days. The two-run blast gave the Cats a 2-1 lead. Nelson Teilon followed the homer with a pop-up to the left side of the infield. Teilon was able to reach base when the pop-up was dropped by third baseman Grant Richardson. Jake Gautreau came through with the Cats second two-run homer of the inning, and Fort Worth led by a score of 4-1.

The Birds closed the gap in the top of the second. Beau Torbert was hit by a pitch to get on base, and Patrick Reilly proceeded to hit his first home run of the year. The two-run bomb by Reilly pulled the Canaries within a run, 4-3.

The Canaries tied the game in the top of the fourth. Hutting led off the inning with a double, and scored on a single by Will Smith. Smith’s second RBI of the season tied the game, 4-4.

Fort Worth took the lead back in the bottom of the third inning. Teilon led the inning off with a single and advanced to third on a single by Gautreau. Ed Montague plated Teilon with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, and after three innings the Cats led, 5-4.

The Birds went ahead in the fourth. Torbert reached on an error and Reilly followed with a single to advance Torbert to third. With runners on the corners, Paul Smyth singled to plate Torbert for a 5-5 tie. Later in the inning, Hutting added a single to score Reilly and the Canaries took a 6-5 lead.

The Cats tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Brian Fryer hit a solo home run, his first of the season, to knot the game at six.

The Canaries took their third lead of the game in the fifth. Josh Patton drew a lead off walk and advanced to third on a single up the right-field line by Grant Richardson. Patton scored from third on a ground ball off the bat of Torbert, and the Canaries led, 7-6.

Fort Worth took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Walks to Montague and Aaron Sisk put two on for John Allen, and Allen cleared the bases with a double to give the Cats an 8-7 advantage.

Sioux Falls tied the game in the top of the sixth. Hutting doubled for his third hit of the night and advanced to third on a groundout by Ben Van Iderstine. With two-outs, Patton doubled to score Hutting and tie the score, 8-8.

The Canaries took the lead in the top of the eighth. Will Smith reached on a two-base throwing error by Cats pitcher Wayne Hedden, and scored on a single by Grant Richardson to give the Canaries a 9-8 lead. Richardson took second on the throw home as Smith scored, and when Torbert followed with a single Richardson scored to give the Canaries a 10-8 advantage.

Fort Worth changed the lead one final time in the bottom of the eighth. After back-to-back walks put Fryer and Carter on base, Teilon hit a three-run homer to give the Cats the 11-10 win.

Josh Kite (0-1) gave up the three-run homer to Teilon in the eighth to take the loss in his first appearance of the year. Wayne Hedden got the win for Fort Worth, and Jon Hunton picked up his second save in a row.

The Canaries and Cats will wrap-up the four-game series with a 2:05 p.m. afternoon game on Sunday.
*Courtesy: Sioux Falls Canaries