Canaries Swept In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, MN -- The Sioux Falls Canaries (22-44) were unable to reverse their fortunes on the final game of their road trip, dropping a fourth straight contest to the St. Paul Saints (39-26) 4-2 Thursday night.  Again, it was a lack of offensive production that doomed the Birds whose only two runs scored were unearned.

Matt Wickswat battled through command issues throughout his five innings to keep the Canaries in the game.  Wickswat allowed three runs in the first inning with Angelo Songco singling in the first run and Evan Bigley driving in the next two.  The southpaw settled in after that, allowing just one additional run over his final four frames, working around seven walks to minimize the damage done against him.

Joe Testa tossed two scoreless innings of relief and Josh Giles pitched a scoreless eighth for the Canaries.  Wickswat dropped to 2-5 with the loss.

Ben Hughes was solid in his second start for the Saints, holding the Canaries to just two runs in six innings.  He struck out three and walked two.  The only damage came in the fourth inning.  After a single from Steven Branca, Sam Lind and Kevin Dultz reached on errors and Steve Tinoco followed up with an RBI double.  Dultz then came home on a wild pitch to pull the Canaries to within 3-2, but Hughes would not allow another run and improve to 4-0 on the season.

Drew Gay worked the seventh and eighth innings and Dan Sattler closed the door in the 9th for his 16th save.

The Canaries return home Friday night for a three game series against the Sioux City Explorers.  Friday's game is at 7:05 PM.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries