Zach McCool (Iowa) had a great day at the plate for the Waterloo Bucks going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI from the DH spot. McCool was hit by a pitch and had a stolen base against the Loggers and is currently hitting .478. McCool hit .344 for the Hawkeyes with 12 stolen bases and 17 extra base hits. He helped lead the Hawkeyes to the championship of the Big Ten tournament against Minnesota.
Eight former Northwoods League players were selected in the top 100 picks of the MLB First-Year Player Draft, including a pair in the first round.
Rochester 3, Alexandria 2 The Rochester Honkers two run 8th inning was too much for the Alexandria Beetles at Knute Nelson Memorial Park. Both the Honkers and Beetles received great pitching performances from two Northern Sun Intercollegiate pitchers, Bret Mitchell (Minnesota State Mankato) and Shawn Riesgraf (St. Cloud State). The Honkers pitching staff came in relief of Mitchell throwing three innings of one-hit, no run baseball. Rochester received two hit days out of Bryan Karraker (Central Arizona), Mitch Caster (Wichita State) and Devin Thaut (Paradise Valley CC).
Northwest Missouri State right handed pitcher, Chris Green, will go into the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters record books. He earned the first win in franchise history by throwing 5.0 innings of three hit scoreless baseball. He also walked two and struck out two and his NWL ERA is currently at 3.86. Green also was the recipient of great bullpen work by the Rafters pitching staff. Four Rafters combined to throw the final four innings of scoreless baseball.
Madison native, Brett Benesh, went 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI in a 5-2 win against the Battle [...]
Alexandria 7, Rochester 6 The Honkers were leading 5-0 after the fifth inning, but the Beetles came back with a four spot in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Beetles 3rd basemen, Taylor Davis (Morehead State) went 3-for-4 with one run scored and an RBI. The bottom of the Beetles order had seven hits and five RBI. Dan Lazzaroni (Alabama Huntsville) got the win in relief after throwing 4.0 innings giving up one run on five hits. The Honkers Matt Dittman (Illinois) continued his hot hitting going 2-for-2 with four RBI and three walks. Dittman is currently hitting .476 which is good for 5th in the NWL.
Brandon Boykin (Rutgers) finished 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI as the River Bats recorded 27 hits during the two-game series with the Lunkers. The right fielder is currently hitting .308 for the River Bats and hit .283 for the Scarlet Knights with seven homeruns and 29 RBI. He was also second on the team with 15 stolen bases in 19 attempts.
Wisconsin 4, Green Bay 3 The Green Bay Bullfrogs had a hard fought battle Sunday afternoon with the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The Bullfrogs came up just short on the afternoon dropping the game 4-3. The Bullfrogs were trailing going into the bottom of the second inning, 1-0 before Scott Schebler (Wichita State) stepped up to the plate and drove the ball over the right field fence for a home run. The Woodchucks broke the tie in the top of the third when they scored on a wild pitch by Owen Jones (Portland). The Bullfrogs answered right back in the bottom of the third inning when Joel Hutter (Dallas Baptist) drove in two runs on a single to left field. Jones threw another wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score. Kevin Pillar (Cal St.-Dominguez) delivered an RBI single to right field that put the Woodchucks up 4-3 to finish out the scoring.
Nick Sutherland (Youngstown State) has been around St. Cloud for the past four seasons due to transferring to a new school. Sutherland threw 7.1 strong innings against the Brainerd Area Lakes Lunkers. The 6’1’’ righty gave up five hits and zero runs while striking out seven Lunkers and walking none. Sutherland sat out this season at Youngstown State per NCAA regulations on transferring.
