Dogs’ Magical Season Ends with Fargo-Moorhead Comeback Win

FARGO, North Dakota — What a ride it’s been for the 2021 Chicago Dogs.

Game five of the North Division Championship Series was full of surprises. In a game where no lead was safe, the Dogs fell victim to the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in a 10-6 loss Thursday night in Fargo. The dust has now settled, Fargo-Moorhead goes on to host game one the American Association Finals Friday against the Kansas City Monarchs, and the Dogs ride the bus into the offseason back to Rosemont.

The plans were slates to be much different until midway through the night. Brennan Metzger and Michael Crouse teamed up again with a single and RBI double to follow early in the first to quickly put the Dogs ahead. A couple of batters later, Joey Terdoslavich reminded the ballpark of his batting prowess with a double to score Crouse and put the Dogs ahead 2-0.

Just when you thought the fireworks were over, the former RedHawk T.J. Bennett came through with another two-run bomb for his seconnd home run in back-to-back games. At this point, the Dogs were up 4-0 in the franchise’s most important game of their existence. Terdoslavich batted again in the 5th, this time resulting in a moonshot of a solo home run, and what felt like the go-ahead run for the Dogs at the time.

After a strong start to the outing from Jordan Kipper, the Dogs ace began to falter in the 6th against the RedHawks. John Silviano would put the cracks into the armor of the Dogs defense with a two-RBI single in the 6th.

Reliever Ryan Clark then entered the ballgame, but the dogs couldn’t escape the contact bat of first baseman Correlle Prime in the seventh, when he threatened the lead with an RBI single to inch the deficit closer for Fargo-Moorhead.

The momentum shifted when Cam Booser was called into the game in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded, right fielder John Silviano muscled a ball deep into the Fargo night sky to put the RedHawks ahead 7-5 on a grand slam.

The Dogs were down, but this resilient team was certainly not out.

The Dogs threatened in the eighth when Anfernee Grier sent a rocket line drive back up the middle to score Johnny Adams, still trailing by one.

That was until the next half inning when Alex Boswell sent a gut-punch of a home run to the right-field corner to put the RedHawks ahead, 8-6. Fargo-Moorhead then took advantage of an infield error to score another run and take a 9-6 lead. The final blow came from RedHawks backstop Dylan Kelly with an RBI single to put them ahead 10-6.

The Dogs loaded the bases in the 9th to give themselves a chance, but ultimately fell short of the win. The Dogs lost 10-6 to Fargo-Moorhead to end the storybook 2021 season, which featured the most wins (65) in team history and the first-ever North Division regular season title.