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Explorers Sweep Birds to Keep Pace in Playoff Race

Sioux Falls, SD - Another night and another rally for the Sioux City Explorers to help put away the Sioux Falls Canaries 8-1, finishing off a three game sweep of the Birds and to keep pace in the playoff race. 

The beginning of the game was a home run derby between the two clubs. Drew Stankiewicz began the scoring with a solo dinger in the first. But Kevin Taylor responded for Sioux Falls with a solo shot of his own in the second tying the game 1-1. 

Jose Sermo broke the tie in the fourth with his 13th homer of the season to dead center field and Justin Felix padded that lead with a homer to lead off the fifth making it 3-1 X’s. 

In total Sioux City hit seven home runs in the three game span. 

Sam Held (3-1) would work in and out of trouble for the Explorers consistently leaving runners on base in scoring position to end innings. He picked up the win as he tossed five innings on the night allowing only a single run on seven hits with three strikeouts and one walk. He would strand eight of the ten Sioux Falls left on in the game. 

Sioux City would put the game away in the seventh with a five run rally. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for Stankiewicz who would walk himself to bring home a run making it 4-1. 

Stankiewicz reached base four times, scoring twice, driving in a pair and stealing a bag. 

Nate Samson would drive home two runs with the bases loaded with a base hit to left and Sermo tripled to right center field to bring home another pair and finish off the five run rally making It 8-1 X’s. 

In the series the Explorers outscored the Canaries 31-6 in the series and out hit the Birds 44-22. 

The bullpen finished off the night for Sioux City as Tyler Fallwell tossed two scoreless innings and striking out three. Fallwell with his third strikeout of the night notched his 100th punch out of the year. 

Ryan Flores and Matt Pobereyko tossed a scoreless eighth and ninth to finish off the victory and the X’s retired the last 10 straight batters in the game. 

With the win the X’s still hold onto a first place tie with Cleburne in which Sioux City holds the advantage of virtue of the tiebreaker. And they stay a game ahead of Kansas City before they begin the four game series with the T-Bones on Friday. 

Sioux City heads to Kansas City for the beginning of that four game series on Friday with first pitch set for 7:05 pm.