Rox defeat the Bombers two games to one

Rochester, Minn. – St. Cloud defeated the Battle Creek Bombers 5-3 on Saturday in Game 3 to win the best-of-three Northwoods League Summer Collegiate World Series two games to one.

The Bombers fell behind in the fifth inning. With two outs, a bad throw by Bombers second baseman Gavin Homer (McHenry County) continued the inning for the Rox. St. Cloud rallied for four runs on five hits off Battle Creek to take a 4-0 lead. St. Cloud Catcher Ricardo Sanchez (Arkansas-Pine Bluff) and right fielder Keaton Kringlen (Brigham Young) had RBI singles and second baseman Matt Tarantino (Pacific) had a two-run double in the inning for the Rox.

The Bombers responded in the bottom of the inning and cut the deficit in half. Gavin Homer doubled to right center with one out for his first hit of the game. Homer then scored on a ground out to the second baseman, hit by Tom Stoffel (Virginia Tech). Cody Hawken (University of Portland) scored later in the inning off an Alex Howard (Arkansas Sate) RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-2.

But to start the sixth, St. Cloud answered back with a solo home run to left center by shortstop Cameron Eden (California). It was Eden’s fifth homer of the season, making it a 5-2 advantage for the Rox. Battle Creek cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Gavin Homer. Homer singled to score Aaron Antonini (Middle Tennessee State) who doubled to start the inning off starting pitcher Jake Stevenson (Minnesota). Stevenson (3-1) gave up eight hits and two earned runs with one strikeout and three walks in his sixth start of the season to get the win. Trailing 5-3, Battle Creek stranded two on the bases in the sixth.

Battle Creek would leave two runners on in the seventh, one in the eighth and were shut down in the ninth to end the game.

Nick Morreale (Georgetown) threw two hitless innings of relief with one strikeout and three walks for the Rox. Jackson Rose (Minnesota) struck out three in 1.1 innings of hitless relief to pick up his first save of the season.

Dakota Edwards (Cal State-Stanislaus) took the loss for the Bombers. He gave up six hits and one earned run with six strikeouts and two walks for Battle Creek, which committed three errors.

In Game 1 of the series, St. Cloud defeated Battle Creek 7-5 at Joe Faber Field. The Bombers bounced back to beat the Rox 3-2 in 10 innings Friday to force a decisive Game 3.

This is the first Northwoods League Summer Collegiate World Series title for the Rox, which has been a franchise since 2012.

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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 24-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 180 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.