ROCHESTER, MN – Shane McGuire (San Diego) went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in four runs in leading the La Crosse Loggers over the host Rochester Honkers 12-5 on Sunday afternoon at Mayo Field in Rochester.
The scoring started early and often for the Lumbermen as they tallied three runs in the top of the first on three hits from Braiden Ward (Washington), Bryce Blaum (Texas A & M) and Korey Lee (Cal). The Honkers did answer back with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the frame off of La Crosse starter Bill Chillari (Duke), but that would be all they could muster off of Chillari who went on to toss six solid innings, allowing only four hits and struck out seven to earn the win.
The Lumbermen would break it open in the fifth with five runs thanks to a two-run shot from Harrison Freed (Butler), his team-leading seventh home run and RBI singles from Jarron Silva (UCLA) and Ward.
McGuire would be at it again in the fourth as he blasted his third home run of the summer, a two-run shot to give the Loggers a 10-2 lead at the point. La Crosse would push across single runs in the seventh and eighth and Stephen Knapp (Bellevue) would toss the final three innings to earn a three-inning save.
The Loggers will now travel to Mankato to begin a home-and-home series with the MoonDogs on Monday night. Air time on the Logger Nation Station is set for 6:30 p.m. with the first pitch scheduled fro 7:05 p.m.
