Fargo, ND- Three innings down, 72 more to go for Steve Hirchert in his quest for 75 innings this season. After throwing a combined 20 innings in the past three years, Steve is guaranteeing at least 75 this summer.

“I’ve quit softball and I’m all in this season, except for every other Wednesday and most weekends,” stated Steve.

Steve started his pursuit with three dominate innings of relief, striking out eight to pick up the save in the Merchants 10-4 victory over the FM Mets Wednesday night at No Name Field.

The Mets came out swinging in the first, plating two runs against Merchant starter Greg Lunski. However, the Merchant bats erupted for seven runs in the second highlighted by Bryan Erstad’s two run homer off the curling club in right field.

The Mets scored two unearned runs off of Lunski in the 4^th but after that they managed only one hit the rest of the way against Merchant relievers Brandon Baumgartner and Hirchert. Baumgartner and Hirchert managed to strikeout 12 Mets in five scoreless innings of relief.

The M’s were able to tack on a few insurance runs in the 7^th and 8^th innings to stretch their lead to the final score of 10-4.

The Jamestown Miller Lite Merchants will head to Enderlin this weekend to play in the Annual Josh Berg Memorial Tournament. First game is scheduled for 8:30 PM Friday night against the Valley City Saints.