Duluth 3 – Battle Creek 2
The Duluth Huskies (9-8) beat the Battle Creek Bombers (11-6) 3-2 in a close game at Wade Stadium. Drew Benes (Arkansas St) gave the Huskies a great start going 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 6 hits. The game was tied when Benes came out, and Kendall Wehrle (Arkansas) got the win throwing 2 innings allowing only 1 hit and 0 runs. Alex Kent (Central Missouri) got the save giving up 1 hit in the top of the 9th. The Huskies batters got 8 hits, and were led by Zach Walters (San Diego) who went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI. The RBI came in the bottom of the 8th inning with two outs and turned out to be the game winner. Six other Huskie batters had a hit a piece, and Andy Burns (Kentucky) laced a triple off the right field wall.
Eau Claire 7 – La Crosse 6
The Loggers played at home tonight for the first time in a week and had quite an entertaining game with the visiting Eau Claire Express. The Express were able to score three runs in the top of the 9th to take the lead and capture the victory in front of 3,152 fans at Copeland Park. Right fielder Nate Baumann (Augustana) came up for the Express with two outs in the top of the 9th and took Craig Crumbley deep for a three run homer to take the lead from La Crosse. La Crosse threatened in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases with 2 outs, but pitcher Devan Kline (Central Michigan) was able to record the strikeout to end the game and earn the save. Robbie Knight (Creighton) went 1-4 on the night with 2 RBI’s along with a run scored. But the night belonged to Nate Baumann who made the most out of his only hit of the game with the game winning home run in the 9th inning.
Rochester 3 – St. Cloud 0
On a night that belonged mostly to the pitchers, Honkers’ DH Drew Beuerlein (UNLV) smashed his first home run of the season in the eighth inning to extend a one-run Rochester lead to 3-0 and secure the Honkers victory over St. Cloud. Rochester starter Zach Robertson (Iowa) tossed six scoreless, three-hit innings to earn the win and move to 3-1 on the year. Rochester is now 11-6 and has won five straight games. St. Cloud dropped to 5-12. The Honkers mustered just five hits, but is was enough as they allowed only four. Rochester did manage to score an early run in the game on an RBI single by William Arnold (Central Michigan) in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead, but that was all the offense the game would see until Beuerlein’s blast in the eighth. Robertson, despite only striking out four, never found himself in trouble and St. Cloud’s starter, Kevin Johnson (Cincinnati) went five innings allowing just one run on three hits, but took the loss in his season debut to fall to 0-1. Both teams would threaten in the seventh, and Rochester actually did score a run, but only for a moment. After John Gianis (NC State) drove in Arnold on a two-out, RBI single to center, an appeal by the St. Cloud dugout led to Gianis’s bat being inspected, and him being declared out for using too much pine tar. The inning then ended, and the run was voided. One inning later Beuerlein connected on his home run to give the Honkers a 3-0 lead, and the bullpen cruised through the bottom of the eighth and ninth to wrap up the victory. New-comer Scott McGough (Oregon) pitched two one-hit innings in his debut with Rochester, while Arik Sikula (Marshall) pitched a perfect ninth to earn his fourth save of the season. P.J. Sequeira (Oral Roberts) scored two runs but didn’t have a hit, while Danny Brock (St. Louis) and Arnold each finished at 2-for-4. Beuerlein’s homer was his only hit of the game.
Mankato 8 – Alexandria 3
The Mankato MoonDogs kept rolling, as newcomer KC Serna (Oregon) went 3-5 and Ryan Durant (Iowa) added three hits as the ‘Dogs won their fourth straight game with an 8-3 win over Alexandria at Knute Nelson Memorial Park Sunday afternoon. The MoonDogs banged out 14 hits, with all but two starters getting at least one hit. Serna, making his first start for the ‘Dogs, added two runs and a stolen base to go with his three hits. Danny Miller (Minnesota State) posted three RBI and Xorge Carillo (Central Arizona) also added two RBI to lead the MoonDog attack.The MoonDogs (12-5) jumped out to a 2-0 lead after three and did not look back from there. Two runs in the fourth and four in the fifth put the game away, as Mankato has now won eight of their last nine games. Alexandria was led by Victor Albitz (UC-San Diego) who had two hits. Mike Alexander (Air Force) also added two RBI for the Beetles. Zach Whitman (Georgia Southwestern) earned win number one (1-1) by allowing just one run on three hits in five innings of work. Nick Brown (Iowa) suffered the lost for the Beetles, as he was touched for nine hits and four runs in five innings of work.
Thunder Bay 4 – Brainerd 1
The Border Cats snapped a seven game losing streak Sunday night beating Brainerd 4-1 at Port Arthur Stadium. The Cats combined great pitching, excellent defence, and timely hitting in picking up their 3rd win of the season. The Cats pounded out ten hits and scored three times in the first three innings. Colin Bear (Northwestern State) gave the Cats a much needed solid outing on the mound firing a complete game five hitter. The lefthander allowed only one run in the seventh inning. Bear walked three and struck out seven as he evened his record at 1-1. Chris Curley (Campbellsville) went 2-3, while new shortstop Garrett Totten (Texas Tech) had a 2-4 night at the plate with an RBI triple.
Waterloo 9 – Wisconsin 5
Waterloo, beginning a run of playing eight of its next 10 games at historic Riverfront Stadium, used a strong offensive effort to capture a 9-5 win over Wisconsin Sunday.
A crowd of better than 1,400 fans saw the Blue, Gold, and White (4-13) compile 12 hits against Woodchuck pitching. First baseman Frazier Hall (Southern University) led the attack with three hits in four at-bats and ended with three RBIs. Shortstop Michael Giller (University of Illinois) ended with two hits and two RBIs. The plate output was more than enough for starting pitcher Corey Kimes (University of Illinois). Kimes went five frames, striking out five and giving up four earned runs en route to earning his third win of the season. Third baseman Casey Rihm (University of South Carolina) topped Wisconsin (6-10) by going three-for-four at the plate.
Madison 6 – Green Bay 4
Mallards designated hitter Joe Patterson’s (Texas A&M) RBI double in the seventh inning proved to be the game’s winning hit as the team got back into the winning column in a 6-4 victory over the Green Bay Bullfrogs at Joannes Stadium Sunday evening. The Mallards were the first to hang a crooked number on the scoreboard after Kurtis Muller (Iowa) and Adam McClain hit solo home runs in the fourth inning to give the team a 2-0 lead. However the Bullfrogs answered back in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own to reclaim the lead at 3-2. In the sixth, a gigantic solo shot by Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State) gave the Mallards the lead at 4-3. Starting pitcher Matt Jansen (Purdue) picked up his third win of the season after throwing five innings and allowing two earned runs on five hits. His ERA now stands at 2.16 on the year. Denny Clement (Texas A&M) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his second save of the season.
