Brainerd 5 – Duluth 2

With temperatures in the 50’s, the Lunkers sparked a late rally in the last two innings to freeze the Duluth Huskies, 5-2 in Game One at Wade Stadium. The Lunkers came out firing in the first. Stephen Wickens (Florida Gulf Coast) led off with a double that one-hopped the leftfield fence, and Mike Kvasnicka (Minnesota) followed with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. However, the lead didn’t last long. A walk and hit batsman in the bottom of the first gave Duluth the 2-1 lead. The Lunkers fought hard over the next six innings, but had trouble getting men on. They fell victim to the 1-2-3 inning on more than one occasion, and the tying run that stood at third in the fourth was left stranded. In the eighth though, the Lunkers busted out the sticks. Shon Roe (Loyola Marymount) scorched a single right back up the middle, and Nate Hammes (St. Cloud State) reached on an error following a great bunt. Zach Stewart (Ohio Dominican) then bunted to move Roe and Hammes over, and Stephen Wickens walked to load the bases. Dennis O’Grady (Duke) got hit by a pitch to bring home the tying run, and Mike Kvasnicka tilted the game in the Lunkers favor with a 2-RBI single into left field. One inning later, Justin Gominsky (Minnesota) shot a pitch to the wall in left for a double, and came around to score on Will Piwnica-Worms’ (Duke) sacrifice fly to center to put the game out of reach. Drew Smith (Barton CC) then struck out two in the ninth to pick up his 12th save. Starter Brad Mergen (Indian Hills CC) chucked six innings, allowed two runs, walked eight, and struck out two in the no decision. Bret Severtson (Augustana) threw two scoreless innings in relief and picked up his first victory. Offensively, Mike Kvasnicka led the way with another multi-hit affair and accounted for three of the five runs scored.

Green Bay 9 – Madison 1

Kyle Robinson and Chris Schaeffer hit each a blast over the left field wall, as the Green Bay bats came out of hiding for a 9-1 victory over Madison on Thursday night inside Warner Park. Green Bay (5-8) piled on all the runs it would need for the win in the opening frame with five scores. It didn’t stop there as four more were plated in the fifth through seventh innings of the game. Robinson (Indian River State College) capped the first inning scoring run by driving a pitch deep to left field. Schaeffer (North Carolina State) matched him in the fifth with his own highlight reel. It was the second home run of the season for each player. While the bats were getting the job done, Zach Varce (Portland) was doing what he does best on the mound for the Bullfrogs, striking out batters. He fanned 10 Madison (8-5) batters over seven innings of work. It was the third time this season Varce sat down double-digit batters. Jacob House (Arkansas) recorded three hits, in addition to his two RBI, on the night to lead the Bullfrog lineup. A trio of Green Bay batters exited the batters box twice with hits, while Robinson accumulated four RBI in the game. The Bullfrogs totaled five doubles on the night. Varce earned the win, while Tim Jolly (La Verne) tossed two innings of hitless ball, along with two strikeouts in relief. Kurtis Muller (Iowa) and Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) each had two hits for Madison, with Parque scoring its only run. Derek Self (Louisville) was one of four Mallards pitchers on the night, as he took the loss giving up nine hits and six runs – two earned – in five innings. Varce extends his Northwoods League leading strikeout total to 90 on the season – 36 more than Josh McElwee of Battle Creek. The NWL single-season record for strikeouts in a season is 134 set back in 1999. Robinson’s home run was his second in three games. His first of the season came on Tuesday as he smashed it off the scoreboard at Jones Sign Field inside Joannes Stadium breaking a pair of lights in the process. Schaeffer’s second homer of the season helped to raise his batting average 44 points over the last 10 days. Green Bay’s first two runs scored in the opening inning were on back-to-back RBI doubles by Paul Hoenecke (UW-Milwaukee) and Schaeffer. Jimmy Parque (St. John’s) cracked a single before scoring on a Kurtis Muller (Iowa) single for the only Mallard run of the night in the fifth frame. The Bullfrogs continued to add up the runs with two in the sixth and one in the seventh frames for a 9-1 advantage. House drove in a pair with a two-RBI single through the right side, while Robinson hit a RBI double to right center field.

Waterloo 4 – Thunder Bay 3

Waterloo let a 3-0 lead slip away, but the Bucks scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the top of the 9th inning to upend Thunder Bay 4-3.  Josh Lyon (Indiana) and Zach McCool (Iowa) both went 3-5 as the Bucks improved to 8-5.  Phil Keppler (Iowa) added his third home run of the season, a solo shot that gave the Bucks an early 2-0 lead.  Aaron Munoz (Gateway CC) and Derek Hamblen (Belmont) both had two hits for the Border Cats (6-7).  Reliever Zach Cooper (Central Michigan) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out four, to improve to 2-0.  Matt Dwyer (Ripon College) took the loss in relief for Thunder Bay to fall to 0-4.

Eau Claire 4 – Battle Creek 0

History was made Thursday night at Carson Park.  Tyler Bremer (UC Davis) pitched the first no-hitter in Eau Claire Express history as the Express defeated the Battle Creek Bombers 4-0 Thursday night. Bremer was nothing short of phenomenal Thursday night.  He struggled a bit early as he threw six straight balls to start the game.  He also walked two batters in the inning, but after that he settled down.  Bremer pitched the next six innings without allowing a base-runner.  He hit the lead-off batter in the eighth inning, but was able to sit down the next three batters. The crowd of 1659 fans cheered as Bremer took the mound for the ninth inning and they grew louder with every pitch.  Bremer struck out the first two batters of the inning and he was one out away from no-hit history.  He threw a first pitch ball to Chris Lewis (Western Michigan) but came back with two called strikes.  His next pitch got Lewis to miss swinging and the rest is history. The offense needed to provide some offensive support for Bremer and they did just that.  Kole Calhoun (Arizona St.) made a little history on the night too.  Calhoun became the franchise leader in home runs for the Express with nine.   The Express led one nothing heading into the sixth inning and that is when Calhoun knocked a two run home run onto the fan deck to give the Express a 3-0 lead.  In the seventh inning, the Express added one more insurance run. Bremer threw 107 pitches on the night with 68 strikes and 39 balls.  The no-hitter is only the second in the league this season and only the eleventh in Northwoods League history.

Alexandria  8 – Mankato 3

The Beetles led from start to finish on Thursday night, taking an 8-3 win over the Mankato MoonDogs.  Curtis Hudson (Elgin CC) tossed seven scoreless innings in the winning effort, improving to 2-0.  Zach Whitman (Georgia Southwestern), who was 2-0 against Alexandria this year, faltered in the start, allowing two runs on eight hits in just four innings of work. Alexandria took advantage of a sluggish Mankato defense all evening long.  In the first, the Beetles scored the opening run on a Whitman wild pitch. The fourth inning was prolonged on a Tony Strazzara (San Diego) error, giving Marcus Semien (Cal) to drive home a bases loaded single, pushing the lead to 2-0. The Beetles would double their lead in the sixth inning against reliever Tony Manville (Northern Illinois).  Jayson Langfels (Eastern Kentucky) lead off with a single and, after a ground out moved him to second base, he would score on a Trevor Edwards (UNC-Greensboro) double.  Edwards would then score on a Mikel Alvarez (FGCU) single. In the eighth, with Tyler McKendree (Flagler) on in relief of Hudson, the MoonDogs mounted their comeback. All-Star KC Serna (Oregon) led off with a double.  A walk put two on before a ground out moved both runners into scoring position.  Jimmy Patterson (Central Arizona CC) then drove a triple into the left field corner, and Kyle Knudson (Minnesota) would add an RBI groundout in the next at-bat to make it 4-3 Alexandria. But the Beetles had an answer in the eight, posting four runs on just one hit, but two costly Mankato errors.  The game changer, a two-run error by Strazzara as Brendan Alvey (Navarro JC) bounced one over his glove and into left field. Keith Castillo would finish out a 3-4 night at the plate with a sacrifice fly, rounding out the lead to 8-3. Kevin Vangheluwe then threw a perfect ninth to nail things down ending the ballgame. The win pushes the Beetles to a second half record of 7-5, 27-19 overall; the MoonDogs fall to 7-7 in the second half, and 30-17 on the season.

Rochester 2 – St. Cloud 1

The Honkers scored a pair of runs in the first inning, and that was all the offense Rochester would get or need in the game. Both pitching staffs allowed only three hits, and Honker starter Brian Flynn (Wichita State) allowed only one run with seven strikeouts and no walks over seven beautiful innings to earn his fifth win of the season. Rochester moved to 10-4 with the victory, while St. Cloud, who entered the game just one game back of the Honkers, slipped to 7-5 in the second half. The bottom of the first started with St. Cloud starter Kevin Johnson (Cincinnati) hitting leadoff hitter Corey Jones (Cal State Fullerton) in the back, and the Honkers wasted no time in driving him in. P.J. Sequeira (Oral Roberts) was the next batter, and he smacked a double to the wall in right-center to score Jones and give Rochester an early 1-0 lead. Two batters later Tony Thompson (Kansas) drove in Sequeira with a RBI single to make it 2-0, but Johnson was able to avoid the Honkers’ bats after that. He allowed just one more hit in the contest, although he did walk five batters over his six innings. But the left hander was able to escape danger again and again and, fortunately for Rochester, their two first inning runs were enough. Meanwhile Flynn cruised through his evening, getting burned only in the fourth inning when he allowed a leadoff single Jonathan Roof (Michigan State) before throwing two wild pitches to advance him to third with no outs. The next batter, Matt Summers (UC-Irvine), hit into a groundout to score the run and make the score 2-1. No other runs would score in the game, and St. Cloud would muster just two more base runners, as Flynn and the Honker bullpen made the slim lead stand up. Scott McGough (Oregon) pitched a perfect eighth inning before handing the ball off to closer Arik Sikula (Marshall) who allowed just one walk en route to his tied-for Northwoods League leading 13th save. Flynn moved to 5-1 with the win, while Johnson fell to 1-4. Of the six total hits in the game, four came from two batters. Sequeira finished 2-for-3 with a run and a RBI, while Roof went 2-for-4 with a run for St. Cloud.

La Crosse 8 – Wisconsin 2

The La Crosse Loggers re-gained sole possession of first place in the South Division second half race on Thursday night following an 8-2 victory over the Wausau Woodchucks at Athletic Park in Wausau, Wisc. The Lumbermen did all of their offensive damage in two separate frames Thursday night, scoring three times in the fourth and five times in the ninth en route to the 8-2 victory.  La Crosse pounded out 14 hits against three different Woodchuck pitchers, with the top three hitters in the Logger lineup accounting for nine of the 14 hits.  Lead-off man Austin Knight (Dallas Baptist) led the way with four hits, catcher Rob Brantly (UC-Riverside) collected three safeties and outfielder Justin Preckajlo (North Florida) added two. Kyle Simon (Arizona) collected his team-leading sixth win, and in doing so, tied a single season win record for the Loggers.  Simon limited Wausau to just one run over 5.2 innings.  Andrew McKirahan (Texas) and Craig Crumbly (Florida Gulf Coast) relieved Simon and kept the Chucks in check over the final 4.1 innings.