Jake Laber is proving he belongs in the Northern League. Emphatically.
Laber, who earned a complete-game win on Tuesday, stifled one of the NL's top hitting teams for eight-plus innings on short rest Saturday to lead the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks to a 3-1 victory against Kansas City before 2,887 fans at Newman Outdoor Field.
"It came down to establishing the inside fastball today," said Laber, a former Fargo North and North Dakota State standout. "It felt great. Being at home I think helped a lot, too. Having the crowd behind me and getting rolling each game. Each game, the momentum just built and built."
For the second-straight start, Laber showed he could be a dominant starting pitcher in the Northern League when he has command of all of his pitches.
On Tuesday, the lefty limited Schaumburg to just one run and six hits in the first professional complete game of his career.
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He followed it up by allowing one run and nine hits in 8Zc to Kansas City, which dropped a game behind the first-place RedHawks in the Northern League standings.
Laber worked his fastball - which consistently reached the upper-80s on the radar gun - inside to hitter-after-hitter. The accuracy with the fastball set up a solid slider.
He finished with seven strikeouts against a
T-Bones lineup that leads the NL with 33 home runs and 120 runs scored.
Laber's performance Saturday was a far cry from his start against the T-Bones in Kansas City on May 30. In that game, the T-Bones lit up Laber for seven earned runs and nine hits in five innings.
He is now 3-1 with a 4.40 earned run average. Laber has walked only four batters in 28Xc innings.
He was 0-2 with a 7.30 ERA in seven appearances for the RedHawks in 2008.
"Jake's been so successful because he's been able to be in command of all of his pitches," RedHawks catcher Alan Rick said. "... He has the stuff. Two years ago when he was here, he had the stuff. He was just a little wet behind the ears."
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The RedHawks scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth off T-Bones lefty starter Ryan Knippschild to take a 3-1 lead.
Knippschild entered the game 4-0 with a 1.85 earned run average.
He allowed three runs on seven hits in 5Xc innings.
An RBI single up the middle by catcher Eladio Rodriguez gave the T-Bones a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth.
The RedHawks wrap up a three-game series with Kansas City at 1 p.m. today.
"I'm much more acclimated to everything that's going on: Caliber of hitters, the environment in general," said Laber, who turns 24 on Tuesday. "Yeah, it feels good."
KANSAS CITY REDHAWKS
ab r h bi ab r h bi
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Simon cf 4 0 0 0 Coles rf 4 0 1 0
Blckwd 2b 4 0 2 0 Pnprse ss 4 1 2 0
Wshgtn 3b 4 0 1 0 Jckson cf 4 1 1 0
Sadler rf 4 0 2 0 JHrlbk 1b 3 1 0 0
Fasano dh 4 0 0 0 Rick c 4 0 2 2
Joynt lf 4 1 1 0 Cota 2b 4 0 2 0
Fox 1b 3 0 0 0 Patton lf 3 0 0 1
White ph 1 0 0 0 Krause 3b 3 0 1 0
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Rodrgz c 3 0 2 1 Cox dh 3 0 0 0
Mojica ss 3 0 1 0
Totals 34 1 9 1 Totals 32 3 9 3
KC 000 010 000-1 9 0
RedHawks 000 003 000-3 9 0
2B-Washington (1), Joynt (7), Cota (8). SB-Penprase (7). LOB-Kansas City 6, RedHawks 7.
KANSAS CITY
IP H R ER BB SO
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Knpsld L,4-1 5Xc 7 3 3 2 4
Hamren 2Zc 2 0 0 0 1
REDHAWKS
IP H R ER BB SO
Laber W,3-1 8Zc 9 1 1 0 7
Smith S,3 Xc 0 0 0 0 1
Time-2:25. A-2,887.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Heath Hotzler at (701) 241-5562.
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