(Rochester, Minn.)— The Rochester Honkers fell to the Alexandria Blue Anchors 5-4 on Sunday afternoon, with a ninth inning rally spurred by Matt Fiedler’s (Minnesota) Grand Slam falling just short.
Patrick Duester (Tulane) was charged with the loss for Rochester. Tyler Hasper (Heartland CC) earned the win for Alexandria, while Kody Knaus (Concordia St. Paul.) picked up the save.
Alexandria looked in control early, as a three-run home run off Duester in the first inning and a two-run bomb off Tyler Feyeresisen (St. Thomas) in the second had them up 5-0.
Rochester would strand a total of 10 runners on base across the first eight innings as they struggled to build any momentum to cut into the Blue Anchors lead, which lasted all the way to the ninth inning.
The Honkers would manage to load the bases in the ninth with one out, but Joe DeRoche-Duffin (UCONN) would go down swinging, leaving Rochester with just one out to work with.
That would bring up Fielder, who was 0-4 at the plate on the day. HE would blast the 1-0 pitch from Mitch Larson (Nebraska-Omaha) over the wall for hi fourth home run of the year to bring the Honkers within one.
Mark Contreras (UC Riverside) would reach first on a dropped third strike to keep the Honkers alive, but Ryan Webberley (Cal Poly Pomona) would fly out to right field, leaving the final at 5-4.
The Honkers are now 10-10 in the second half, and sit in sixth place in the North Division, 4 games back of first place St. Cloud. They still narrowly cling to a playoff spot in the overall division standings, in fourth place with just a 1.5 game lead on fifth place Waterloo.
The Honkers are now heading into the All Star Break. The 2015 NWL All Star Game will be in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. on July 21st. Starting pitcher Jayson Yano (Stevens Institute) will be the Honkers lone representative on the North Division squad. The Marshfield Home Run Contest will precede the All-Star game, with Duffin getting the nod in to represent Rochester in that one. The Honkers will be back in Rochester on Thursday, July 23rd, to face the Eau Claire Express at 12:05 p.m. It will be Kids "3 Buck" Day presented by Perkins. Kids 12 and under will gain admission for just $3! It will also be a Novo Nordisk Home Run for Life Thursday.
All of the Honkers games can be found live on Sports Radio AM 1520 The Ticket with Clinton Cole. You can also listen for free at www.rochesterhonkers.com by clicking on the Listen to Games Live link. Live video streams of the games are available via the Northwoods league Live Stream, powered by Stretch Internet. To access, just visit www.northwoodsleague.com and click on the Watch Games Live link at the bottom of the page.
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
