Duluth 3 – Eau Claire 0
Friday night the Eau Claire Express offense was able to rally late in the game to come from behind and earn the victory. Saturday night they were not as successful and they were shutout by the Duluth Huskies 3-0. Duluth pitcher RJ Fondon (Florida International) kept the Express off balance all night as he pitched seven innings to earn the victory. In the ninth inning it looked like the Express might make a rally. Lead-off batter Mario Neda (New Mexico) walked and was pinch run for by Brooks Pinckard (Baylor). The next batter, Nate Baumann (Augustana) hit what appeared would be a single, but it hit Pinckard while he was running to second. Pinckard was ruled out, and the momentum stopped after that. Matt Patterson (Creighton) picked up the save for the Huskies, throwing a scoreless 8th and 9th inning. Nathan Melendres (Miami) had two hits and two RBI’s to lead the Huskies offense. Doug Joyce (Florida Int’l) and Nick Rickles (Stetson) also had two hits and with Joyce driving in one and Rickles scoring a run.
Brainerd 2 – St. Cloud 0
In front of 1,713 people at Joe Faber Field, Albany, MN native Brad Mergen (Indian Hills CC) pitched a stellar seven-inning, three-hit affair as the Lunkers defeated the St. Cloud River Bats, 2-0. In the first, Mergen faced four St. Cloud hitters. That was the only time all night the River Bats brought more than three hitters to the plate in an inning. Mergen only surrendered a hit in the first, second, and fourth. He struck out one, allowed only one walk, picked off a base runner, and lowered his ERA below 2.00. The sixth inning was all the Lunkers need offensively. A leadoff double to the wall by Justin Gominsky (Minnesota) was followed by an RBI single by T.J. Berge (Northern Colorado). A few batters later, David Valesente (St. Joseph) brought one more home with his RBI double.
Mankato 5 – Waterloo 0
Simply put, the Mankato MoonDogs pitching staff is dealing. Ryan Demmin pitched seven shutout innings, and John Brebbia (Elon) a cleaned up the last two, as the MoonDogs recorded their second straight shutout with a 5-0 victory over Waterloo Saturday night at the Frank. Demmin (UW-Oshkosh) allowed just five hits and struck out seven batters on the evening, moving to 3-1 on the season and lowering his ERA to 1.00. The MoonDogs (11-5) wrapped up their first of two six games homestands in 14 days with a 5-1 mark, retaining first place in the North Division. A majority of the offensive damage was done with just two swings of the bat in the third inning. Tony Strazzara (San Diego) belted his second home run of the year, a two-run shot to deep left field that put the MoonDogs up 2-0. Three batters later after a Ryan Durant (Iowa) single, Jimmy Patterson (Central Arizona) went deep to almost the same spot in left to make in a 4-0 ballgame. Durant led all players with three hits and a run on the evening. Troy Larson (Minnesota) also added two hits and a run for the MoonDogs. Jason Krizan (Dallas Baptist) had two hits and a double to pace the Bucks (3-13).
Battle Creek 9 – Thunder Bay 2
Battle Creek completed a two game sweep in Thunder Bay dumping the Border Cats 9-2.
The Bombers broke open a 1-1 tie with a four-run third inning and tacked on three more in the eighth. Josh Valle (Marshall) belted a two-run home run and added an RBI double as he went 3-5 on the night. Chris Lewis (Western Michigan) also had three hits in five at-bats with a double, RBI and a run scored. Bombers starter Joe Wagstaff (Louisburg College) improved to 3 and 0. Wagstaff pitched five innings, allowing five hits and two runs, with two walks and four strikeouts. Tyler Powell took the loss in his debut with Thunder Bay. The righthander from Belmont Abbey went five innings and surrendered six runs on nine hits. Powell walked four and struck out two as the Border Cats lost their seventh straight.
La Crosse 4 – Madison 3
The La Crosse Loggers played yet another one run game on Saturday night and came out on the good end of 4-3 contest, defeating the Madison Mallards to earn a split of the two-game set at Warner Park in Madison. The Mallards would draw first blood, scoring in the first inning of Loggers starter Richie Erath (FGCU), but after that Erath took control holding Madison scoreless for the next five frames. In the meantime, the Lumbermen would score once each in the third, fifth and seventh to take a 3-1 lead. As Madison has done so often at home this year, they came back in the seventh with a two-run homer to tie the game. The Loggers would manufacture a run in the top of the ninth to take the 4-3 lead and this time watch Troy Watson and Kyle Simon shut the door in the bottom of the ninth with defensive help from left fielder Boomer Collins who made a sliding catch and doubled off the would-be tying run. Robert Abel (San Francisco) led the way offensively for the Loggers, collecting two hits, stealing two bases and scoring twice. Watson (Sac City) earned the win in relief and Simon (Arizona) the save.
Green Bay 8 – Wisconsin 1
The Green Bay bats came alive Saturday night at Jones Sign Field at Joannes Stadium against the Wisconsin Woodchucks, as it pounded out a season-high 16 hits, including four doubles, as it got revenge from last night’s history making no-hitter. The Bullfrogs stuck early, putting four runs on the board in the second inning, off five singles and a double. Green Bay was led by a balanced offensive attack, as every Bullfrog batter recorded a hit on the night. John Semel (Chapman) led the way with a 4-for-5 performance, including two runs scored and a RBI. Paul Hoenecke (UW-Milwaukee) and Chris Schaeffer (North Carolina State) also recorded a pair of hits and RBI to help the Green Bay offense. Chuck Lukanen (Northern Illinois) earned his second victory of the season allowing two hits in five innings of work. He struck out five, while giving up an unearned run. His counterparts out of the bullpen, locked down the Woodchuck offense as they gave up one hit in four innings. Scott Fern (Minnesota) pitched three effective innings, striking out three, to earn his first save of the year.
Rochester 7 – Alexandria 2
The Honkers played flawless baseball from start to finish in a pair of 7-inning games on Saturday night, and won both (7-2 in the first, 8-2 in the second) to sweep Alexandria and improve their record 10-6 on the season. Alexandria fell to 7-9 during the week. In the first game, the Honkers jumped out early by scoring an ostentatious five runs in the bottom of the first inning to spot starter Matt Mullendore (Hamline) an early lead. Rance Roundy (UNLV) delivered an RBI double to score the first run of the inning and the Honkers just kept hitting, including five consecutive hits from the middle of the order. P.J. Sequeira hit an RBI single in the inning as well. That was all the offense Rochester would need, although they did add single runs in both the second (on a homer by Roundy) and the third to account for their seven runs. Meanwhile Mullendore was on cruise-control and pitched a complete game allowing just two runs on six hits to pick up the win and improve his record to 1-1 on the season. Alexandria’s starter, Chase Porch, lasted just one inning and was touched for all five of those runs (all were earned) on six hits to take the loss and fall to 1-2. The only offense he would get was two runs, both scored by Matt Alexander (Air Force), who finished 2-for-3 for the game. Danny Brock (St. Louis) and Roundy were the only Honkers with multiple hits, and both finished 2-for-3 with two RBI. Eight different Honkers had hits, for 10 total on the game.
Rochester 8 – Alexandria 2 (Game 2)
In the second game it was Drew Bowen (Oral Roberts) for Rochester against Erik Johnson (Berkeley) for Alexandria, and the Beetles would get on the board first. Bowen lacked much command in the first few innings he worked, and allowed a single run on sacrifice fly to enter the bottom of the first trailing 1-0. But the Honkers had more first-inning runs in their bag, and retook the lead by pushing across a pair on a RBI single by Roundy and a RBI double by Tony Thompson (Kansas). Bowen would then settle down, and go six total innings allowing just three hits and two total runs to earn the win and move to 1-0 on the year. Rochester didn’t need more offense, but scored two in the third on another double by Thompson, and another in the fourth before plating three more runs in the fifth to earn the 8-2 victory. Johnson went 4.1 innings for the Beetles, allowing 11 hits and eight runs (six earned) to take the loss and fell to 0-1. Lucas O’Rear (Northern Iowa) pitched the seventh for Rochester, but did not earn a save in the 8-2 game. Thompson and John Gianis (NC State) paced the Honkers offense, both going 3-for-4. Thompson had three RBI and a run and Gianis scored two and drove in one of his own.
