(Rochester, Minn.) – It wasn’t pretty, but the Honkers got the job done on Wednesday at Mayo Field defeating the Eau Claire Express 8-5.

Reed Hjelle (Minnesota-Crookston) started the scoring in the seventh driving home a run with a single to right. Casey Dunlap (Point Loma Nazarene) came up two batters later and broke the game open with a 3-run double over the center fielders head to put the Honkers up 7-5 and later came around to score on a wild pitch. The Honkers batted around in the seventh, had three hits and two walks.

Between the two teams tonight there were six errors, 10 walks, three hit batsman and a one hour seven minute rain delay.

Chad Tworek came in relief to get the win and shut down the Express offense throwing five innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out 10.

The Express got on the board in the first. Devon Garcia (Ohio) hit a ground ball off Honkers starting pitcher Zak Devermann (Illinois) to bring home the first run of the game.

The Honkers took advantage of a couple of Express errors in the third to score two runs. Dunlap reached after getting plunked by a pitch and later came around to score on an error by Express first baseman Nic Ready (Air Force). Alex Baeza (Hawaii) then grounded into a double play to bring home another run.

The Express came right back to score three in the fourth. Garcia and Ready each scored on an error and Phillip Sikes (New Mexico) drove a sacrifice fly to bring home another run. Rochester scored a run in the bottom of the fourth from a Dunlap Sacrifice fly.

Garcia drove in the lone run for Eau Claire in the sixth with his first home run of the year.

Ryan Casper (Point Loma Nazarene) and Hjelle each had two hits for honkers. Dunlap finished the game with four RBIs.

The Rochester Honkers travel to Waterloo Thursday to take on Bucks, first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. The next Honkers home game is Friday, June First where the Honkers host the Bucks and have their first Fireworks Extravaganza presented by Lawrence Transportation. The fireworks show will begin approximately 10 minutes after conclusion of the game.

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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 190 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.