(Rochester, Minn.)— The Rochester Honkers topped the Thunder Bay Border Cats Tuesday night 3-2 in 10 innings. Ricky Delgado (San Joaquin Delta CC) earned the win for Rochester, while Donnie Sellers (Wake Forest) took the loss.
Matt Fiedler (Minnesota) was the main offensive presence for the Honkers, scoring the teams first to runs, and bringing in the game-winner on an RBI single in the 10th.
It was the second straight game that went two extras between Rochester and Thunder Bay. They also went to 10 innings in Rochester on Jluy 6th. The Honkers won that game off Will Paschal’s (Georgia Gwinnett) walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the tenth inning.
Rochester is now 3-0 in extra inning games in 2015.
Rochester took an early 1-0 lead, as Fiedler would score on a fielder’s choice ball from Cole Krzmarzick (Nevada) in the first inning.
The scoring would be hard to come by after that though, as Thunder Bay starter Johnny York (St. Mary’s College of CA) would retire 14 straight Honkers from the first to sixth innings. During that hitless spell by Rochester, the Border Cats would take the lead with a two-run home run in the fifth inning.
The Honkers would eventually get to York though, as Fiedler would score the game-tying run in the sixth on a single from Joe DeRoche-Duffin. That single would extend Duffin’s hit streak to 12 games.
Neither team would get a runner past second base over the final three regulation innings, and the Honkers and Border Cats would head to extras. In the top of the 10th, Paschal would reach on a double, and advance to third on a bunt. That would bring up Fielder, who dropped a single in left field that allowed Paschal to jog in for what would be the game-winning run.
The Honkers currently sit in second place in the North division for the second half at 9-5, 1.5 games back from the first place St. Cloud Rox. They are third in the overall season standings in the division; trailing the Rox and the first half champion Willmar Stingers.
The Honkers will face Thunder Bay again for the second game of the series tomorrow. They will be back home on Thursday, July 16th to take on the Willmar Stingers. It will be Mayo Department of Medicine Night, and a Novo Nordisk Homerun for Life Thursday.
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
