Fargo, ND – The Jamestown Miller Lite Merchants won their fifth game in a row on Wednesday night defeating the Mayville Redcaps 3-2.

Things got off to a bumpy start for the Merchants when starting pitcher and Hall of Famer Greg Lunski left after two scoreless innings on the mound to attend the annual Hairball concert at the Red River Valley Fair.

Forced to dip into their bullpen early the Merchants needed to John Eckstein to pick them up and boy did he ever.

Eckstein relieved the departed Lunski and was lights out in relief. Eckstein allowed to runners to reach base over five innings of relief, while striking out five to collect his team-leading 3rd win of the season.

“Once I saw Greg leave for Hairball I knew I needed to step up”, stated John as he did his post-game band work.

At the plate the Merchants pounded out 12 hits but were only able to scrap across 3 solo runs in the 3rd, 5th and 7th innings.

The Redcaps made things interesting in the 8th scoring two unearned runs off of Brandon Baumgartner who relieved Eckstein.

However, Baumgartner got the Merchants out of the jam still with the lead by striking out two Redcaps in a row with the bases loaded.

Baumgartner then pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his second save of the year.

The Jamestown Merchants (8-3) will take on their crosstown rivals the Jamestown Elks next Wednesday in Fargo at Helling Field.

Note: Greg Lunski actually never made it to Hairball and was back in the Merchant dugout by the 5th inning.