(Rochester, Minn.)- The Rochester Honkers fell at Duluth Saturday night 5-2. Matt Fiedler (Minnesota) picked up the loss after allowing eight hits and three runs in five innings. Bo Hellquist (Minnesota-Duluth) earned the win for Duluth.
The Huskies took the early lead in the second inning, scoring on a wild pitch from Fiedler, but Rochester tied the game in the third when Ryan Webberley (Cal Poly Pomona) brought Ryan Summers (Louisville) in. The Honkers took the lead in fourth as Slade Heggen (Oregon) came in on an RBI single from Miles Mastrobuoni (College of San Mateo) to give Rochester a 2-1 lead.
That lead held until the sixth inning, when the Huskies plate four runs, three of them unearned, to take a 5-2 lead that would stand as the final as Rochester could get just one runner on base over the final three innings.
The loss delivers a major hit to the Honkers chances at winning the NWL North Division first half. Willmar, Duluth, Rochester, and St. Cloud are all within 1.5 games of each other in the race to secure the North division’s automatic playoff berth.
Rochester will try and avoid the sweep by the Huskies tomorrow as they square off again tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. The Huskies swept the previous two-game series between the two teams in Rochester earlier in the season.
The Honkers will be back in Rochester on Tuesday, June 30th, to face the Waterloo Bucks at 12:05 p.m. at Mayo Field. It will be Kids 3 Buck Day, presented by Perkins, where all kids 12 and under can get into the game for just three dollars. It will be the first game of a split double header. The second game will be in Waterloo at 7:05 that night. These will be the first two games in the Honkers' and Bucks' competition for the Scheel's Highway 63 Cup this season. The Cup is awarded to the winner of the season series between Rochester and Waterloo.
You can follow all the Honkers action on Sports Radio AM 1520 The Ticket with Clinton Cole, and on the Northwoods League Live stream, which can be found at northwoodsleague.com. Just click on the Watch Games Live link.
The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, 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 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website. For more information, visit www.rochesterhonkers.com
