St. Cloud 3 – Mankato 0

David Deminsky (St. Cloud State) threw a complete-game, two-hit shutout on Wednesday as the St. Cloud River Bats (10-16) blanked the first place Mankato MoonDogs (17-8) 3-0 in front of 1,349 fans at Joe Faber Field. The left-hander (4-1) struck out six and walked two en route to a league best fourth win, lowering his ERA to a sleek 0.73. Offensively for the Bats, Blake Cover (Nebraska-Kearney) paced the offensive attack with two hits, including a double, and a run scored. The Bats struck early off MoonDog starter Bennett Whitmore (Oregon) (0-1), scoring two in the first and another in the fourth inning. After Nick Longmire (Pacific) doubled to lead off the game, Jonathan Roof (Michigan State) singled up the middle to plate the first Bats run. Cover then added an RBI ground out to make it a two-run frame. Zach Maxfield (Florida Gulf Coast) blooped an RBI-single in front of center fielder Brenden Webb in fourth to bring in the last Bat run. K.C. Serna (Oregon) and A.J. Petterson (Minnesota) collected the only two MoonDog hits. The Bats ended Mankato’s five-game winning streak.

Brainerd 5 – Thunder Bay 0

Dennis O’Grady (Duke) continued his dominance on the mound as he threw eight strong innings, allowed just three hits, walked only one, and struck out nine in the Lunkers victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats, 5-0. The Lunkers scored in the third on an infield single by Andrew Gudmunson (North Dakota) that brought Shon Roe (Loyola Marymount) home. In the fourth, Roe accounted for another run as his single plated David Valesente (St. Joseph) following Valesente’s one-out double. Up by two in the seventh, Hunter Nolen (Northern Colorado) blasted a pitch to the warning track for a 2-RBI double that scored Mike Kvasnicka (Minnesota) and Valesente. Those two runs increased the Lunker lead to four. In the eighth, a one-out single by T.J. Berge (Northern Colorado) set up Andrew Gudmunson’s sacrifice fly to center that scored the fifth and final run of the night. At the plate, Gudmunson and Shon Roe led the way with two hits apiece. The big story of the night though, was the performance by starter Dennis O’Grady. He lowered his ERA to a league starting pitcher-best 0.29, picked up his second win in a Lunkers uniform, and didn’t face more than four Thunder Bay hitters in any inning. O’Grady has now thrown 17 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to his start on June 16 against Duluth.

Battle Creek 6 – Green Bay 4

Battle Creek again put together a big inning, scoring four runs in the fourth inning, to take the two-game series over Green Bay Wednesday night at Jones Sign Field at Joannes Stadium. For the second straight night Battle Creek rallied for the victory by batting around the order in an inning. The Bombers compiled four singles, while adding a walk and a hit-by-pitch scoring four of their six runs in the contest in the frame. Matt Talley (The Citadel) picked up the victory after going five innings giving up seven hits, while striking out two. R.J. Hivley (Cal State Fullerton) earned the save tossing two strikeouts. On the night seven Bombers recorded a hit, while Chris Lewis (Western Michigan) and Josh Valle (Marshall) were platted twice. Lewis and Doug Otto (Virginia Commonwealth) each recorded a stolen base. Aaron Conway (Missouri State) and Riley Henricks (Portland) led the Bullfrogs with two hits apiece. Conway scored twice and added a stolen base to push his Northwoods League leading steal total to 21.

La Crosse 5 – Madison 3

The Loggers completed a two game sweep Wednesday as they beat the Madison Mallards by a final score of 5-3. The Loggers got out to a quick 2-0 start with a two-run home run by catcher Robert Brantly (UC Riverside). The Mallards were able to cut the lead to one on an RBI double by Joe Patterson (Texas A&M) in the top of the third, but in the bottom of the same inning La Crosse got the run back on and RBI single by Brandon Meredith (San Diego St.)  The game remained the same score until the top of the seventh when Madison was able to pick up a run but La Crosse answered right back once again.  Making his first appearance in a Logger uniform following North Carolina’s College World Series run, Greg Holt (North Carolina) pinch hit in the bottom of the eighth and his first at bat as a Logger was one to remember.  Holt crushed a two-run home run that proved to be very important as Madison’s Kurtis Muller (Iowa) hit a solo home run in the top of the 9th to bring the lead back down to two. Closer Craig Crumbly (Florida Gulf Coast) re-focused and retired the next two Madison batters to earn the save and seal the victory for La Crosse. Logger’s pitcher Pete Woodworth (Florida Gulf Coast) picked up his first win of the season after pitching six innings and giving up two earned runs while striking out six. Leading the way offensively for the Loggers was catcher Rob Brantly who went 2-4 with a two-run home run and Greg Holt who also hit a two-run home run in his pinch-hit at bat.

Wisconsin 5 – Rochester 4

The Honkers led almost the entire game, and nearly got the final out in the ninth, but an interference call on Jay Johnson (Prairie Baseball Academy) at first base allowed the inning to continue and the Woodchucks would score three runs to pick up a come-from-behind 5-4 victory. The Honkers are now 14-10 while Wisconsin moved to 9-17. Rochester scored a run in the first inning to back starter Bret Mitchell (MSU-Mankato), and after he allowed a single run to tie the score at 1-1 in the fourth, the Honkers answered back immediately with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning when Mitch Karraker (Oregon) scored on an error and Corey Jones (Cal State Fullerton) added another run on a delayed double-steal to make it 3-1 Honkers after four frames. Meanwhile Mitchell was in cruise control, allowing just one more run to score over 6.1 excellent innings in which he struck out 10 and allowed just five hits and two walks. Rochester scored again to extend their lead back to two at 4-2 in the eighth when Rance Roundy (UNLV) delivered a bases-loaded, two-out single to score Jon Tommasini (Oregon State). But Mitchell would end up getting a no-decision as the unusual ninth inning unfolded. With Riley Bevill (Oregon) on in relief, Wisconsin picked up a pair of soft singles around a strike out to put the tying run on base with one out. Rochester turned to the bullpen where Jay Johnson was warming up and he would come on to make his season debut. He struck out the first batter he faced to make it a 4-2 game with two outs and runners on first and second and Chad Wright (Kentucky) at the plate. Johnson got Wright to bounce softly to Danny Brock (St. Louis) at first, and he ran to the bag and stepped on the base for what appeared to be the third out but Johnson, bumped into Wright on his way to first base and was called for interference allowing Wright to stay at first. The inning continued and the bases were loaded with two outs for Joey Hainsfurth (Baylor). He lined single that scored to runs to tie the game and a wild pitch to the next batter allowed another run to score making it 5-4 Wisconsin. Johnson would get the batter to strike out and end the inning, but Rochester was unable to score and the game ended at that score. Johnson was charged with the loss after allowing two unearned runs in the ninth (the third was Bevill’s run) to fall to 0-1. The win went to Bryce Butt (Ohio) after pitching 5.1 innings allowing just a single unearned run in relief. Corey Jones led the Honkers offense with two hits and two runs, while Troy Frazier (Kentucky) had three hits with a run and an RBI for Wisconsin.