LA CROSSE, WI – Usually scoring five runs is enough to keep a baseball game competitive. That was not the case tonight.
17-5 feels more like the score of a football game from the 1960s in which your favorite linebacker managed to tackle the opposing team’s running back in their own end zone to score a safety, yet ultimately did not do enough to win the game. Tonight, the fans at Copeland Park weren’t watching football, but the number of runs scored in the fourth and fifth innings by the Rochester Honkers (6-2) made it seem like touchdowns were being scored.
In those fabled fourth and fifth innings, the Honkers managed to score seven and eight runs respectively. Twelve hits and one error in those two innings alone allowed Rochester to plate fifteen runs and bat around the order more than twice. These nightmare innings were long and painful, and the game was never the same after.
The news out of Copeland Park tonight is not all bad, of course. Fans were treated to the first two Logger home runs of the season at home. Michael Dixon (Concordia-Irvine) hit a two-run blast in the bottom of the third that he knew immediately was leaving the building. Brandon Hager (Arkansas State) sent one between the flags in center field for another two run shot in the bottom of the fourth. The excitement of those at-bats quickly faded, however, as Rochester stole any momentum the Loggers were trying to build.
Michael Dixon was the Logger light which shined the brightest in this one, going three for four with a double, a home run, and two RBI.
The Loggers (3-5) now get two much-needed off days as they will try to pick up the pieces on what is still a very young season. Fans planning on attending the upcoming Thursday game at Copeland Park will not be watching the La Crosse Loggers play, but instead the Old Styles as the La Crosse club will wear their throwback uniforms for the first time this season.
