St. Cloud 2 – La Crosse 0 (7 Inn.)

In game one, third-year River Bat Kurtis Frymier (Michigan State) pitched the 10th no-hitter in Northwoods League history – and the second in River Bats history – in a 2-0, 7-inning win in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the La Crosse Loggers at Joe Faber Field. Frymier joined Wisconsin’s Bobby Pritchett as the only Northwoods Leaguers to throw a no-hitter this season. Frymier also joined Thomas Diamond as the only River Bats to accomplish the feat. Diamond tossed a no-hitter in a 5-0 win at Alexandria on June 15, 2003. Frymier (1-1) escaped trouble in the first inning when two Loggers reached base on errors. He allowed the first of his two walks to start the second inning, but induced a double-play ball in the next at-bat. That began a string of 14 consecutive batters retired by Frymier. Meanwhile, Matt Fanelli (Washington State) singled and scored a run in the fourth, and then drove in Tony Renda in the sixth to give Frymier all the support he would need. Frymier walked the first batter of the seventh inning, but proceeded to retire the side on a flyout to center, a popout to first, and a groundout to third. Frymier finished with four strikeouts.

La Crosse 1 – St. Cloud 0

La Crosse responded with a 1-0 win over the River Bats in Game 2. The Loggers (12-8) pushed across an unearned run in the fifth inning, and lefthander Steven Gruver (Tennessee) (2-0) pitched 6.1 shutout innings, yielding to Craig Crumbly (Florida Gulf Coast) to pick up the final two outs. The River Bats (7-13) had two runners in scoring position with one out in the seventh, but Crumbly picked up his second save by retiring pinch hitter Nick Longmire (Pacific) on a groundout to third and Eric Marzec (Youngstown State) on a popout to shallow right field. Dave Deminsky (St. Cloud State) (3-1) took the loss for St. Cloud, allowing six hits in seven innings.

Alexandria 11 – Thunder Bay 8

Nine runs in the first two innings paced the Beetles past the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Wednesday night, as Alexandria hung on for an 11-8 win.  Bryce Uhrig (Pepperdine) tossed the first five innings for the Beetles in the winning effort; Christian Dekker (NW Missouri State) took the loss for Thunder Bay, lasting just 1.1 innings. After the Border Cats plated a first inning run, the Beetles offense responded with three in the bottom half of the first.  In the second, the Beetles broke the game wide open.  With one out, Wes Patterson (UT-Martin) drew a walk. Then, after a Mike O’Neill (USC) single and Mikel Alvarez (FGCU) walk loaded the bases, Vance Albitz (UC-San Diego) brought them all home with a bases clearing double. Diallo Fon (Arizona) followed with an RBI single.  Then, Keith Castillo launched his first homerun of the season and his fifteenth of his Beetles career.  With the blast, Castillo becomes the franchise record holder for homeruns in a career. With the Beetles atop 9-1, the Thunder Bay comeback began.  In the fifth, the Cats scored twice off of Uhrig, getting an RBI double by A.J. Schugel (Central Arizona CC), followed by a David Phillips (Ole Miss) RBI single. In the seventh, reliever Austen Siwiec (Valparaiso) ran into trouble, walking three of the first four batters including a bases loaded walk.  A double-play ball plated another run, and the ‘Cats had cut the deficit to 11-5.  In the eighth, Siwiec issued a lead-off walk on four pitches.  Kevin Vangheluwe (Michigan) came on in relief and gave up an RBI single and RBI double to bring the game to 11-7. In the ninth, Thunder Bay continued the comeback, drawing back-to-back one out walks.  After a popup for the second out, Garrett Totten (Texas Tech) blooped a base hit into right field, scoring another run. Tyler McKendree (Flagler) had to enter for the save, and got pinch hitter Derek Hamblen (Belmont) to ground out to end the game.

Brainerd 5 – Duluth 0

Zach Kenyon (Iowa) had another great outing as he went seven innings, allowed one hit, struck out twelve, and walked only two to lead the Lunkers to a 5-0 victory over the Duluth Huskies at Wade Stadium. Kenyon started off the game striking out the first four hitters he faced. In four of his seven innings pitched, he retired the Husky hitters in order. He didn’t surrender the first walk until the fifth and the first hit until the sixth. The Lunkers scored in the first to start the game. Andrew Gudmunson (North Dakota) got caught purposely in a pickle to allow T.J. Berge (Northern Colorado) to come home to go up, 1-0. Then in the third, a one-out walk to Justin Gominsky (Minnesota) led to back-to-back singles by Berge and Gudmunson, with the second plating a run. After that, they would bring three more home to put the game out of reach. Gudmunson was one of the leaders at the plate. He finished 2-for-4 with two singles, a sacrifice fly, two RBIs, and a run scored. Three others finished with multi-hit affairs as well. David Valesente (St. Joseph), Zack Stewart (Ohio Dominican), and Mike Martinez (Florida International) each had two hits apiece.

Green Bay 4 – Mankato 2

In game one, the Bullfrogs came back on a tiring Tim Griffin (Rollins) in the seventh. With the MoonDogs up 2-1 Schaeffer walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Riley Henricks (Portland) came up with a clutch hit, looping a double down the right field line to tie the game. After another single by Sam VandenHeuvel (Rhode Island), the Bullfrogs executed a double steal, as VandenHeuvel stole second, and Henricks beat the throw home from KC Serna (Oregon). VandenHeuvel came around on a single to give the Bullfrogs an insurance run and a 4-2 lead. Anderson came out of the Bullfrog pen to retire the ‘Dogs in order for his fourth save. Matthew Campbell (Brown) was the winner, moving to 1-0 by throwing two frames of scoreless relief. Griffin suffered the loss, striking out seven in his six-plus innings of work. Seven different MoonDogs had hits in the game, as Cody Fick (Evansville) was the only Dog with two. VandenHeuvel recorded the only Bullfrog RBI and was the only Frog with multiple hits finishing with two. The MoonDogs jumped out in front in the second with an unearned run. Xorge Carillo (Central Arizona) came around on a Green Bay throwing error to put the Dogs in front. The next inning, Jimmy Patterson (Central Arizona) singled home Pettersen for a 2-0 lead. The Bullgrogs made it a 2-1 game with a run in the fourth before their seventh inning rally. It was the first time the MoonDogs had lost with a lead after the seventh and the first defeat when outhitting their opponents. With the split, the MoonDogs improved their sterling home record to 8-2.

Mankato 3 – Green Bay 2 (12 Inn.)

After a nail-biting 4-2 loss in game one for the MoonDogs, those in attendance were treated to free baseball in game two, and a lot of it. The ‘Dogs scored three runs in the bottom of the12th, as Ryan Durant posted a two-run single, and Jimmy Patterson provided the game-winning bloop single, giving the MoonDogs a 3-2 win in 12 innings, and a doubleheader split with the Green Bay Bullfrogs. With Dixon Anderson (California) trying for his second save of the day, the MoonDogs rallied as Kenny Held (Central Arizona) was hit by a pitch with one out. KC Serna (Oregon) singled and A.J. Pettersen (Minnesota) walked to load the bases. After a flyout, the MoonDogs rallied with two outs. Durant (Iowa) lined an RBI single to right, and two batters later was followed by Patterson’s (Central Arizona) single for the victory. It looked bleak going into the inning, however, as the Bullfrogs rallied for a pair of runs off Adam Jung (Central Arizona). With John Semel (Chapman) and Aaron Conway (Missouri State) standing on second and third with two out. Chris Schaeffer (North Carolina State) came through with what appeared to be the winning hit, as he looped a ball just past a diving Durant in centerfield for the short-lived lead.A pair of relievers making their first starts stole the show early in the game, as Alex Burgos (Manatee CC) and Scott Fern (Minnesota) put up two outstanding efforts. Burgos made his first start of the summer for Mankato (13-7) and he did not dissapoint. He allowed just four hits, striking out three in throwing 82 pitches. Scott Fern was just as tough for Green Bay (8-11), as he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of the scheduled seven inning game. Durant led all hitters in game two, as he posted three hits in the second game. Conway had two hits for the Bullfrogs, as he stole four bases on the game. Anderson took the loss in game two, falling to 0-1. Josh Castanza (Minnesota State) pitched to one batter in the top of the 12th, earning the win (1-0).

Battle Creek 3 – Wisconsin 1

The Battle Creek Bombers got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but didn’t have the same magic as last night, falling to the Wisconsin Woodchucks 3-1. Overnight rain delayed the start for 2 hours, but that didn’t affect the Bombers’ offense, which recorded 9 hits.  Right fielder Chris Lewis (Western Michigan) hit an RBI single in the first to give the Bombers an early lead. However, the Woodchucks managed to shutout the Bombers over the next 8 innings, with solid pitching and several great defensive plays. Right fielder Terrance Jackson (Oklahoma City) made 2 diving catches, and with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth 3rd baseman Casey Rihm (South Carolina) made a leaping grab to rob Chris Lewis of an RBI single.The Woodchucks scored a run in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and were it not for 3 pick-offs by Matt Talley (The Citadel) the damage could have been much worse. 2nd baseman Mike Mutcheson (New Mexico JC) led the Woodchucks’ offense with a walk, 2 singles, and 1 RBI.

Madison 12 – Waterloo 0

Cody Winiarski (MATC) pitched seven scoreless innings and the Mallards offense broke out in a major way to pound the Bucks 12-0 Wednesday night in front of 5,913 fans at the “Duck Pond.” Madison is now tied with the Eau Claire Express once again after the Express had a day off and the Battle Creek Bombers lost to the Wisconsin Woodchucks 3-1, putting the Michigan franchise one-half game behind both clubs. The Mallards broke out in the second inning when Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State) led off with a single that was followed by a Harold Riggins (NC State) opposite field home run, his fourth of the early season. Left fielder Jerrud Sabourin (Indiana) then singled, setting the stage for freshman standout Troy Channing (St. Mary’s). Channing didn’t disappoint by hitting his second home run of the year, a majestic shot to give the Mallards a 4-0 lead. Later in the inning Kurtis Muller (Iowa) walked, moved over to second, and scored on a Joe Patterson (Texas A&M) line drive off Bucks starting pitcher Chris Pack (Villanova). The team would add another run in the fourth on a Patterson RBI single to score Muller after the center fielder walked to lead-off the frame and stole second base. Clutch hitting was the theme of the fifth inning for Madison as they added another four runs, all coming with two outs. Riggins led off the inning with a single followed by a one-out single by Channing. After Channing was picked off first base, JR Graham (Santa Clara) was hit by a pitch and Muller followed with a walk to load the bases. Shortstop Joe De Pinto (USC) then belted a drive past the extended glove of third baseman Troy White (Northern Illinois), good for a bases-clearing double to give the Mallards a 10-0 lead. Winiarski (3-1) continued his brilliant start to the season with seven scoreless innings, while only allowing four hits and striking out eight. He lowered his already-thin ERA to 1.84 on the season.