June 12: Richardson The Hero. Now He Gets To Go Fishing... and Maybe Play Golf, Too.

While being interviewed by Shaw TV, after being named Dufresne Furniture’s Player of the Game on Thursday, Dustin Richardson said he was looking forward to a rare two days off.

“So are you going to play golf or go fishing?” Jim Toth asked Richardson.

“Ahh, both?’” answered Richardson, with a wide smile.

No doubt he’s earned it.

On Thursday, Richardson went two-for-three and drove in two important runs as he and that super Goldeyes pitching staff led the Fish to a 6-2 victory over the visiting Gary SouthShore RailCats.

With the win, the Goldeyes swept the RailCats, won their seventh-straight game, ninth-in-a-row at home and improved to 19-5 on the season. The Fish remain in first place in the Northern League, four games ahead of second place Schaumburg.

“I love winning,” Richardson said with a mischievous grin. “Winning is fun and this team is going to win a lot this year.”

In the second inning, Richardson doubled, sending Josh Asanovich to third base. Asanovich then scored on a ground out by Brent Metheny to give Winnipeg a 4-2 lead.

However, in the sixth, with Winnipeg ahead 4-2 and the RailCats nibbling away Winnipeg’s lead, Richardson put the game away. With two out, the bases loaded and two strikes, the Goldeyes catcher went with an outside fastball and drove it into right field for a two-run single that guaranteed the Fish their second-straight home sweep (the Goldeyes took three from Fargo last weekend).

It also guaranteed that Richardson would enjoy every minute of both a little fishing and a little golf.

“This is a very good team, but nothing is guaranteed,” Richardson said. “We still have to go out there and earn our wins and I thought we did that (Thursday).”

It didn’t hurt that the pitching staff Richardson handles almost every day did another outstanding job. The Goldeyes pitching was so good against Gary this week that the staff never once allowed more than two runs. In fact, the scores for the four games were 4-2, 6-2, 3-2 and 4-2.

Starter Andrew Cruse (2-1), who allowed both Gary runs, was the winner, while Derek Feldkamp pitched in the sixth and seventh innings and young Aaron Odom wrapped it up in the eighth and ninth.

“It was a great team effort once again,” said Richardson. “But it was nice to get a big hit when the team needed it.”

The Goldeyes hit the road today for a three-game set in Joliet followed by three in Fargo.