(Rochester, Minn.) – As of late, The Rochester Honkers (5-2) are lighting up any pitcher that stands in their way. The Honkers put up eight runs on 16 hits to cruise past the Waterloo Bucks (2-5) 8-6 and win their fourth straight. Rochester has compiled 43 hits over the past three games.
Ryan Casper (Point Loma Nazarene) continued his tear tonight as he had four hits in five at-bats. He leads the Northwoods League with a .600 batting average. Griffin Schneider (Century) ripped a 3-run homer in the third to give him his first home run of the year.
Drew Slade (Ripon) started the game on the mound for Honkers and tossed four innings allowing five runs on seven hits. The Honkers bullpen was able to shutdown the Bucks offense allowing just one run in five innings. Darin Kilfoyl (St. Johns River State) came in relief to work two innings giving up two hits and striking out five to get the win. Connor Barrett (Point Loma Nazarene) threw 1 2/3 innings surrendering one run and striking out one. Josh Ibarra (Concordia-Irvine) shut the door with 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the save.
Waterloo got on the board first putting up a five spot in the second. Skyler Messinger (Kansas) roped a RBI single to left to start the rally. Kevin Welsh (Rutgers) followed up with a two RBI single to right. Ryan Gonzalez (Incarnate Word) and Jacob Means (Indiana State) each drove in a run with a double.
The Honkers fought back in the second as Derek Scott (Abilene Christian) hit an RBI single and Jaylon McLaughlin (Nevada) scored on an error. In the third, Schneider ripped a 3-run home run to tie the game at five.
The Honkers broke the tie in the fourth from a sacrifice fly from Casey Dunlap (Point Loma Nazarene) and a RBI double from Alex Baeza (Hawaii).
Waterloo added one more in the eighth as Gonzalez drove in his second run out of the leadoff spot.
Rochester added an insurance run in the eighth as Michael Michalak (Illinois) singled to left to drive in his second run of the year.
The Honkers will make a trip down to Waterloo tomorrow for a 6:35 p.m. match-up with the Bucks.
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The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in 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 former 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 portal. For more information, visit www.rochesterhonkers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Honkers as your favorite team.
