Sutherland homer provides winning margin for Birds

Robby Sutherland's three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning snapped a 9-9 tie, giving Chester Bird a 12-9 win over the Rochester Redhawks in the final game of the Gopher Classic.

Early, the game looked like The Birds would roll to victory as Marcus Barone led off the second inning with a double and score on Jack McGinn's RBI ground out to put the hosts ahead.

A four-run second inning featured an RBI double by McGinn, a bases-loaded bunt single by Spencer Shaver, a sacrifice fly by Keaton Studsrud and a Jimmy Heck RBI single.

Heck was on a pitch count as he took the mound to start the game and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing three hits with one strikeout, before giving way to Greg Zeman, who took to the mound for the first time in his four seasons with Chester Bird.

After giving up three unearned runs in the fourth, he was tagged for five runs in the fifth inning before giving way to Scott Quinby in the sixth.

After the Redhawks posted their first three runs, The Birds responded by scoring four times in the bottom of the fourth, getting a RBI single from Barone and a two-run home run from McGinn to restore the five-run lead, which turned out to be short-lived.

When Quinby came onto pitch the sixth, he was immediately touched for a leadoff home run by Steve Serratore but he would hold the visitors in check the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Zeman's one-out solo homer in the bottom of the sixth, his first as a Bird, tied the game before Dan Labosky and Heck walked in front of Sutherland's tie-breaking homer.

Barone had three hits to lead Chester Bird's 13-hit attack. McGinn had a double and a home run to go along with four RBI while Shaver and Sutherland also added two hits to the win.

The Birds are slated to play five games this week, the final game of the regular season. Tuesday, they return to South Hennepin League action with an 8 p.m. game versus Bloomington Gold at Red Haddox Field.

Chester Bird's final home game of the season is Wednesday, when The Birds host Excelsior in another SHL game, at BSM Field.