During their first game of the Grand Forks International Baseball Tournament (GFI), the Merchants/Seals dug themselves a hole the could not get out of. This was frustrating for starting pitcher Blaze Hastings (Seminole State), who found himself behind 3-0 after pitching four innings of solid baseball. The problem for the Merchants was - not one of the runs they gave up was earned.

Nate Peterson (Jusdon University) came in to relieve Hastings, but he did not fare any better. The lefty surrendered four runs in over the course of the next 3 1/3 innings. By that time, the Merchants/Seals were already down 7-1.

The Merchants/Seals tried to battle back - scoring a couple runs in the 8th, but by that time, it was too late. The Merchans/Seals ended up dropping game 1 of the GFI 7-3.

Marcus Williams (Cal State East Bay) took advantage of being walked twice and scored two runs for the Merchants. Cory Henderson (Arkansas Pine-Bluff), Mike Jenkerson (Hawaii-Hilo) and Ty Koehring (Indiana Tech) contributed two hits each.

The Merchants/Seals will now play the defending Canadian National Champion Burnaby Bulldogs on June 30th.