Saltdogs Win Third Straight

It only took 1 hour and 59 minutes for the Lincoln Saltdogs and the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks to decide the first game of their three game series. Brian Rodaway threw the first complete game of the year for the Dogs en route to a 5-1 victory on Friday night at Haymarket Park. With the win, Rodaway improved to 2-0 on the year in front of a crowd of 4,121. Jimmy Escalante went the distance for Fargo in the loss.

Two singles to left field started the third inning for the Saltdogs in a then scoreless contest. A third single from Pichi Balet scored the first run of the game when Albenis Machado came cross from second. The next batter, Bryan Warner, hit a deep ball to left center field scoring Harris from third and giving the Saltdogs a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, the Lincoln struck again. With one down, Cory Harris launched a shot just inside the foul pole in left field to put the Saltdogs up by three. After Pichi Balet was hit by a pitch, Bryan Warner took a 1-2 pitch over the bullpen in right field for his fourth homer of the year.

The Redhawks scored their only run of the game in the seventh inning when Kelley Gulledge hit his second home run of the year.

For Rodaway, this was his fourth complete game of his career. His more recent complete game came in 2003 when he was pitching for Salem in the Carolina League.

The Redhawks and Saltdogs will return to the diamond on Saturday night for the second game of the series. Alex Carbajal is slated to get the start for Lincoln, while Mike Peschel will take the hill for Fargo-Moorhead.

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