Fargo, North Dakota – The Merchants entered the bottom of the ninth down 4-1. They had left thirteen runners on base through the first eight innings and even got two runners gunned down at the plate. By a minor miracle, things changed and the Merchants finished the regular season on a winning note.

“I’m really proud of how the guys stuck together tonight and kept grinding it out to get the win with their backs to the wall in the 9^th inning,” stated Bryan Erstad who went 3 for 3 at the plate. He added, “They say you’re only as good as you’re last at bat. Well, I’m glad everyone forgot about that because there were no RBI’s in our last AB’s. We saved them for the end. It was a big character builder for the Merchants squad.” 

Mayville helped out the M’s to begin the ninth by walking the first three of the four batters to load the bases. Mayville then brought in Mickey Berry to shut the door. Scott Stephenson battled Berry and drew a walk after an eight pitch at bat to make the score 4-2. Mayville then got Tom Houdek to ground into a fielder’s choice, where they managed to get the runner out at home to keep the score 4-2 with one out. Brandon Baumgartner stepped up to the plate next.

“Good thing he threw me a fastball, I had no chance at an off speed pitch,” stated Baumgartner as he crushed a Hardeez Thickbruger in the parking lot after the game.

Baumgartner lined the first pitch he saw from Berry over the second base man’s head bringing home two Merchants to even the score at four.

With the game now tied at four and runners on first and second, Mayville got the second out of the inning by striking out Anthony Fontana. That brought up Brady Anderson who was in a funk at the plate.

“I’ve been struggling all week long, I had to be like 0 for my last 20, it was about time I got a hit,” stated Brady after he got mauled by his teammates.

Anderson promptly laced a single up the middle scoring the winning run for the Merchants to cap off a four run ninth to beat Mayville 5-4.

“Doppler” Dan Ross picked up his first career Merchant win by throwing two scoreless innings of relief for starter Brandon Baumgartner.

The Merchants ended the regular season with a 15-8 record. Next up for the M’s will be the AAA State Tournament. The state tournament will take place August 14-16 at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown.  It is a 6 team pool play tournament with the Merchants facing the Bismarck Brewers at 11:00 am and Mayville at 3:00 pm on Saturday.  Sunday is single elimination with semi-final games at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm and the championship at 3:00 pm.