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FARGO, N.D. – The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks have named Jim Bennett as the team鈥檚 third manager in franchise history. The announcement was made a press conference Wednesday morning at Newman Outdoor Field.

Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Mariners in 1988, the California native pitched in affiliated-baseball for three years. He was 2-1 with a 4.33 ERA for the AZL Red Sox/Mariners in his first season. Bennett finished his minor league career 13-28 but with a 3.54 ERA and just 73 walks in 310 IP. His pitching career ended in 1991 as he played for Fiorentina in Italy’s Serie A2, going 5-3 with a 1.23 ERA.

Bennett began his coaching career in 1992 as a pitching coach with the Lethbridge Mounties (鈥�92), AZL Angels (鈥�93-鈥�94), Boise Hawks (鈥�95-鈥�99), Lake Elsinore Storm (鈥�97), Cedar Rapids Kernels (鈥�98), Visalia Oaks (2000), Tri-City Dust Devils (鈥�01), Asheville Tourists (鈥�02), Visalia again (鈥�03-鈥�04), AZL Padres (鈥�05) and San Jose Giants (鈥�06-鈥�07). He then took some time off from professional coaching before returning to the bench with the Perth Heat in the 2014-2015 Australian Baseball League (ABL). In 2015, Bennett was named as the pitching/bench coach for the Brisbane Bandits, which has won the last four ABL Championships. Recently, he was named the pitching coach for the Australian National Team, which will compete in the WBSC Premier 12 Tournament in late 2019.

鈥淚鈥檓 excited and feel fortunate to be a part of the RedHawks organization,鈥� Bennett said. 鈥淭his team has a tremendous amount of talent and l look forward to working with the staff and putting together a winning product on the field”.

Brad Thom, RedHawks President/CEO, said 鈥淛im has a vast amount of baseball knowledge and his success in the ABL has shown he knows what it takes to win and we鈥檙e confident he鈥檒l fit in well with the organization and is the right choice to the lead the RedHawks back to the playoffs鈥�.

Bennett resides in Mesa, AZ in the offseason.