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HURON, S.D. | The Sioux City Explorers collected 17 hits en route to their first exhibition baseball victory of the season here Friday night, 8-5 over the Sioux Falls Canaries.

Brian Pounds and Peter Barrows each socked solo home runs and drove in two, Pounds finishing 3-for-4 at the plate and Barrows 2-for-4. Adrian Martinez added a solo homer while Sam Judah was 4-for-5 and Travis Weaver 3-for-4.

Ryan Zimmerman, Preston Olson, Andy Noga and Jimmer Kennedy worked two innings each on the mound while Yunier Colon pitched a scoreless ninth. They combined to allow nine base hits.

Zimmerman gave up one hit and struck out one, Olson allowed a run on three hits and Noga two hits and a run. Kennedy allowed three hits and three runs (two earned) while pitching the eighth and ninth and Colon fanned one in the ninth.

The X’s tallied single runs in the first three innings and two in the fifth, taking a 5-1 lead after five innings. After Sioux Falls scored once in the sixth, Sioux City answered with a run in the eighth, going in front 6-2.

The Canaries pulled within 6-5 with three in the bottom of the eighth, but the X’s tacked on a pair of insurance tallies in the ninth.

The Explorers host the Lincoln Saltdogs in their final exhibition game at 2:05 p.m. today at Lewis and Clark Park.

Sioux Falls visits for the regular season opener Thursday night.

Article courtesy of Sioux City Journal