Four errors contribute to rain-shortened loss to league-worst Blue Anchors
(Rochester, Minn.)– The Honkers drop a rain-shortened game to the Alexandria Blue Anchors, 4-0, at Knute Nelson Memorial Park.
The Honkers and Blue Anchors only completed 4 2/3 innings before a rain delay put the remainder of the game on hold and it’s where it would stay.
The loss was mostly self-inflicted for the Honkers on Friday. In less than five innings of play, the Honkers committed four errors. Within the first two batters of the bottom of the first inning, two errors moved along leadoff man Craig Nennig (Ohio State) around the bases to score game’s first run off of Honkers starting pitcher Matt Kent (Texas A&M).
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Blue Anchors earned their only hit on a single to third baseman L.J. Brewster (Hawaii), whose diving attempt came up just short. After the inning’s leadoff single, an error by Reid Roper (Illinois) put runners on first and second base, then Kent walked a batter and hit a batter for the Blue Anchors to score their second run. The game’s third run was scored on a fielder’s choice and then Kent threw a wild pitch to score the fourth.
The Honkers managed three hits in five innings of Alexandria’s best arm, Andrew Thome (North Dakota), who is among the league leaders in ERA and strikeouts.
With rain coming down headed into the fourth inning, the Honkers could not manage to tie things up and went down in order. Kent made his way back to the mound in the bottom of the fifth and recorded two outs when umpires sent the game into a delay before eventually calling it official. The win is just Alexandria’s fifth all season.
The Honkers and Blue Anchors will hope the field dries for tomorrow’s game at 7:05 p.m. Rochester will head back home Sunday to play the Willmar Stingers at 1:05 p.m. Ticket information can be found at rochesterhonkers.com.
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The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 21st season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 115 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (DET), Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Allen Craig (STL) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League YouTube channel. For more information, visitwww.rochesterhonkers.com.
