Oconomowoc, Wi. – Luis Aviles Jr. was the late-game hero once again for the Lake Country DockHounds, taking down the best of the West, the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, in the 2025 home opener at Wisconsin Brewing Company Park by a score of 4-3.
Two solo shots in the second inning off of the Hounds’ starter Jacob Nix gave the Hawks a lead but Nick Northcut’s single up the middle in the bottom half of the frame scored Brian Rey to cut the lead in half.
Two innings later, Ryan Hernandez sent his first DockHound hit of the season to right-center for a leadoff double and came around to score.
Nix settled in, ending his night after seven innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. The two longballs were the only offense against the righty all night. He’d leave with the game still tied at two runs apiece.
Robert Gsellman entered for Nix in the eighth, surrendering a third Fargo-Moorhead solo home run in his lone inning of work but limited the damage to just that.
Again, the DockHounds were down, but not out. With one away in the eighth, Joe Gray doubled before Aviles Jr. muscled a ball to right-center that cleared the yard and gave the Hounds a 4-3 lead.
“I saw how they were playing me, and I was trying to shoot a line drive to right to move the runners,” said Aviles. “I’m just trying to do my job and I got a good pitch to hit. Capitalizing on it was massive.”
Up 4-3 in the ninth, DockHounds Manager Ken Huckaby called on Will Sandy to shut the ballgame down. Sandy worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam, securing two strikeouts to pair with his second professional save.
“It’s been a fun back-and-forth game after game so far,” said Aviles. “It’s built a lot of trust between our lineup and our staff, knowing we’ve got each other’s backs.”
The DockHounds climb to 5-1, still atop the East Division, and will continue the three-game set against Fargo-Moorhead on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 5:35pm.
