The Eau Claire Express continue to hold a lead in the second half North Division Standings with a win over Thunder Bay as we head into the final week of the season. Mankato and Willmar round out the top-four in the North as St. Cloud is holding by a game at the top. Rapids topped Kenosha by 10 runs today to push Kenosha out of the playoff picture for the time being as Battle Creek, Rockford and Lakeshore round out the top-four.

Rochester 12, Bismarck 1 (Game 1)

The Rochester Honkers only allowed one run in the opening inning as they defeated the Bismarck Larks 12-1. The Larks got their one and only run in the bottom of the first from an RBI single by Ryan Anderson (UC Davis). The Honkers tied it in the fifth when Morgan McCullough (Oregon) doubled in a run. Rochester then broke the game open with five in the sixth as the first three came home on bases loaded walks and McCullough drove in one from an RBI ground out. The Honkers added two more in the seventh from a two-out two RBI single. Ryan Fitzpatrick (UC Irvine) went deep in the eighth Michael Michalak (DMACC) hit one out to lead off a three-run ninth inning as the Larks went down in-order to end the game.

Fond du Lac 14, Battle Creek 3

The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders scored early and often as they defeated the Battle Creek Bombers 14-3. Fondy got three right away in the top half of the opening inning as Nick Fortes (Ole Miss) and Luke Mangieri (Bradley) both singled in runs. The Spiders got four in the top half of the third, but the Bombers got one in the bottom half from a double by Alex Howard (Arkansas State). Caleb Summerhays (UNLV) then hit a grand slam for the Dock Spiders in the fourth to put them up 10. Brandon Wulff (Stanford) hit one out to add two more for Fondy in the fifth and then they got one in the sixth from an RBI single. Battle Creek managed one in the eighth and ninth, but the deficit was too much to come back from.

Wisconsin 1, Kalamazoo 6

The Kalamazoo Growlers held the Wisconsin Woodchucks to one inning of scoring as they won 6-1 today. Kalamazoo put up their first run in the fourth as Stephen Dubb (USC) doubled in a run. The Growlers got three more in the fifth from an error and sac flyout. The Growlers got a solid 7.2 from starter Zane Gonzalez (IU South Bend) as he only allowed one run in the sixth as Hunter Coleman (Texas A&M) singled one in. Kalamazoo got two in the bottom half from an RBI single and then 1.1 from Walter Talcott (Earlham) out of the bullpen to end the game.

Waterloo 2, St. Cloud 9

The St. Cloud Rox got early runs in the first three innings as they went on to defeat the Waterloo Bucks 9-2. St. Cloud got on the board with a pair of runs in the first when Matthew Tarantino (Pacific) connected on a double. St. Cloud then got another in the second and went off for six in the third. Cameron Eden (California) added three in the inning with a home run. Jay Schuyler (San Diego) put Waterloo on the board with a leadoff home run in the fifth and they added one more in the seventh. Aaron Rozek (Minnesota State) turned in another quality start for the Rox as he threw six and only gave up the one run and improved his record to 6-1. Three relief pitchers for the Bucks threw the final four, but didn’t get any run support as Joe Calamita (Bethune-Cookman) picked up the three-inning save.

Green Bay 7, Rockford 6

The Green Bay Bullfrogs held off a late rally by the Rockford Rivets and won the game 7-6. Rockford got on the board in the bottom of the first with an unearned run. The Frogs scored twice to take the lead in the fourth from a wild pitch and RBI single by Troy Johnston (Gonzaga). Willie Bourbon (Northwestern) started a two-run seventh inning and then put up three more in the eighth. With the Rivets down six going into the bottom of the ninth, Anthony Forte (LSU) led off the inning with a home run. Hunter Feduccia (LSU) had a bases clearing double and scored from an RBI single, but the next two out of three batters got out to end the game.

Kenosha 1, Wisconsin Rapids 11

The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters only allowed one run late in the game as they defeated the Kenosha Kingfish 11-1. Rapids got on the board first in the bottom half of the opening inning as Ryan Stekl (Canisius) doubled in a run. The Rafters got another four in the next inning which featured an error and Bryson Stott (UNLV) knocking in two unearned runs from a single. Alex Holderbach (Eastern Kentucky) then homered in the third and then Stekl, Stott and Holderbach all drove in runs in the fourth. Rapids got a pair more in the seventh as Jesse Slinger (Lock Haven) threw the first two and Josh Aguilar (Citrus CC) turned in the next five scoreless. The Kingfish finally had Joe Campagna (Slippery Rock) score on a pass ball in the eighth, but did nothing in the ninth to end the game.

Rochester 7, Bismarck 3 (Game 2) (7 Innings)

The Rochester Honkers took the lead for good in the third and never looked back as they defeated the Bismarck Larks 7-3 in a seven-inning game. The Honkers scored their first in the top half of the opening inning from a sac flyout. Bismarck got all three runs in the bottom half when Luke Horanski (Virginia Tech) went deep. Rochester started their four-run third inning from a bases loaded hit by pitch and then got a two-run single by Konnor Zickefoose (UC Irvine). They got two more RBI singles in the fourth and the final two innings scoreless from their bullpen to win the game.

Madison 2, Lakeshore 3

The Lakeshore Chinooks scored three times in the sixth and defeated the Madison Mallards 3-2. Austin Havekost (Kent State) pitched the first four scoreless for the Chinooks as Matt Horkey (UNC-Charlotte) turned in five scoreless for the Mallards. Madison got their first run in the fifth from an error and Lakeshore went off for three in the sixth which started from an RBI single by Joe Duncan (Eastern Illinois). David Vinksy (Northwood) led off the seventh for Madison with a home run, but the Chinooks’ bullpen pitched the final 1.1 scoreless to end the game.

Thunder Bay 3, Eau Claire 5

The Eau Claire Express took the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth and defeated the Thunder Bay Border Cats 5-3. The Express got a pair of runs first in the second inning from a bases loaded walk and an RBI double play. Dayne Sommer (Central Oklahoma) then put Thunder Bay up by one with a long ball in the third. Daytona Bryden (UW-Whitewater) then tied the game for the Express in the fourth as a bases loaded walk and RBI single from Zach Ashford in the eighth was the eventual difference maker.

Duluth 2, Willmar 6

The Willmar Stingers put up runs late as they went on to defeat the Duluth Huskies 6-2. The game was scoreless until the top of the fifth when Jack Stronach (UCLA) broke up a Joe Vranesic (Kent State) no-hitter and singled in a run for the Huskies. The Stingers then took the lead with four in the sixth when a triple drove in an unearned run, another came from a sac fly out and Danny Rodriguez (Bethune-Cookman) hit one out for two. Two more came home for Willmar on RBI singles in the seventh. The Huskies managed to draw a walk with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, but the next guy flew out to end the game.

La Crosse 0, Mankato 8

The Mankato MoonDogs got eight innings from Tyler Lesley (Incarnate Word) as they went on to defeat the La Crosse Loggers 8-0. Mankato scored first on an error by the shortstop in the bottom half of the opening inning. The MoonDogs got another in the fifth from a Jake Shepski (Notre Dame) RBI single. Mankato then broke the game open for six in the eighth. The Loggers committed three errors two walks and two hits including an RBI single by Ryan Kreidler (UCLA). Lesley only gave up five hits and one walk while striking out eleven for his fourth win of the season as Shepski shutdown La Crosse in the ninth to end the game.

 

Schedule for August 7:

Rockford @ Kenosha (4:30 PM) (Game 1)

Battle Creek @ Wisconsin Rapids (5:05 PM) (Game 1)

Thunder Bay @ Rochester (6:05 PM) (Game 1)

Willmar @ Waterloo (6:35 PM)

Bismarck @ Eau Claire (6:35 PM)

Wisconsin @ Lakeshore (6:35 PM)

Kalamazoo @ Fond du Lac (6:35 PM)

Kenosha @ Rockford (7:05 PM) (Game 2)

Madison @ Green Bay (7:05 PM)

Thunder Bay @ Rochester (7:05 PM) (Game 2)

Wisconsin Rapids @ Battle Creek (7:05 PM) (Game 2)

St. Cloud @ La Crosse (7:05 PM)

Duluth @ Mankato (7:05 PM)