It's lights on for Goldeyes

Some history is going to get written at Canwest Park tonight. That's a given.The question is whether it's going to be a chapter that will make Winnipeg Goldeyes fans smile or cringe.

For the first time in franchise history, there will be baseball on a Sunday night as the Winnipeg Goldeyes take on the Fargo RedHawks in the fifth and deciding game of their opening-round Northern League playoff series.

While the Goldeyes have played plenty of Sunday games over the years, they have always been matinees until tonight. Team management decided last week that if a fifth game was necessary, they would do as the major leagues do in the playoffs and play the game on a Sunday night. Game time is 7 o'clock.

Game 5

Fargo forced tonight's fifth game with a gutsy 3-2 victory over the Goldeyes Saturday night at the downtown park that tied the series 2-2.

The winner tonight will advance to this week's Northern League Championship series. Their opponent will also be decided in a fifth game tonight in Gary between the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Kansas City T-Bones. Kansas tied up that series 2-2 with a 2-1 victory in Gary Saturday night.

Goldeyes manager Rick Forney was philosophical in defeat, crediting his club with the effort.

"It's not the end of the world. There's always (today)," Forney said. "We'll play hard. There's no reason to be sour or upset. They left it out on the field, they did everything they could."

And they will again tonight, said Fish centre-fielder Cory Patton. "I love coming out when there's something on the line," said Patton. "It's exciting playing when you know it's either the last day of your season or a chance to extend it."

Fargo got a stingy effort Saturday night from starter Matt Mossey and a string of relievers out of their bullpen. And the Goldeyes did themselves no favours, hitting into three double plays, stranding eight base runners and just generally failing to capitalize on a 10-hit night that would normally have been enough to generate enough offence to defeat an opponent who had mustered just three runs.

"We didn't situational-hit. It's as simple as that," said Forney. "It's frustrating."

And so the Goldeyes season will come down, as it has so many times in the past, to one game against the RedHawks.

Ninth time

This is the ninth time in 13 years the two teams have faced each other in the playoffs and tonight will be the fifth time the series has come down to one deciding game.

Fargo has won those games twice over the years -- in 1996 when it was still a three-game series and in 2006, the most recent time the two teams faced each other in the playoffs. Winnipeg won fifth games in 1997 and 2001.

Forney will hand the ball tonight to Bear Bay, who looked comfortable getting the win in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Bay gave up just four hits and two runs in picking up that victory, but two of those hits were home runs.

Bay says he last pitched a deciding playoff game in 2006 while playing AA-ball in Akron. That was a loss and Bay said he's relishing the opportunity of tonight's second chance.

"You come out here to compete," said Bay. "You live for these kinds of situations, for these kinds of games."

Ace Walker, who started for the Fish Saturday night, gave up a pair of singles and a double to start the game down 2-0 before he'd even recorded the first out. But Walker settled in nicely after that, yielding just one more run through 5 1/3 innings, before giving way to relievers Zach Baldwin and Chris Homer, who pitched scoreless ball to keep the Goldeyes within a run, but ultimately to no avail.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 6, 2009 C1