Second basemen Travis Whitmore (Pittsburgh) was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI against the La Crosse Loggers. He also stole two bases on the night and improved his average to .316 for the Woodchucks. Whitemore hit .369 for the Pittsburgh Panthers in 2010 with 23 extra base hits and 11 steals. He helped led the Panthers to a 38-18 record and an 18-8 record in the Big East.
Eau Claire 2, Madison 1 The Eau Claire Express continued their winning ways tonight at Carson Park in a 2-1 victory over the Madison Mallards. The win is Eau Claire's fifth in a row and third at home, bringing the team's record to 5-1 on the season. The Express take sole possession of first place in the South Division and Madison falls to the middle of the pack and drops to 3-3 after starting the season 2-0. Runs came at a premium tonight and the Mallards scored first after starting Express pitcher Steven Florez (New Mexico) struggled with his command early on. Florez gave up two quick walks in the first and Madison short-stop Justin Scanlon (Madison College) scored on a fielding error.
Steve Nyisztor a 6’4’’ IF from Rutgers went 2-for-6 against the Duluth Huskies, but hit a go-head grand slam in the top of the 6th. The River Bats went on to win 10-9 against the Huskies. He is currently hitting .296 with eight hits and eight RBI. For Rutgers he led the team in batting average at .410. He also had 24 extra base hits to go along with 11 steals, 51 RBI, and a fielding percentage of .989.
Nick Anderson earns his second 'NWL Pitcher of the Night' award by throwing 8.0 innings of three hit baseball against Rochester. The St. Cloud State righty gave up one earned run while striking out seven. His ERA is currently 0.60 with a 2-0 record. Anderson was 8-4 with a 3.33 ERA for St. Cloud State. The Brainerd native threw 92.0 innings on the season while striking out 88 for the St. Cloud State Huskies.
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).
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.
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.
Waterloo Bucks starting pitcher Jarod Wagoner (Butler) was working on a no-hitter going into the seventh. His no-hit bid was broken up by La Crosse Logger center fielder Tony Mueller (Winona State). Wagoner ended up throwing a complete game five hitter giving up three earned runs. The Vincennes, IN native started eight games for the Butler Bulldogs in 2010 and threw the fourth most innings on the pitching staff at 38.1.
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.
