(Rochester, Minn.) –A 3-run eighth inning gave the Rochester Honkers (8-6) all the momentum late as they defeated the Bismarck Larks 7-4 at Bismarck Municipal Park on Monday. The Honkers now have a 4-4 record on the road this season and are 6-1 when scoring the first run.
Chad Tworek (Keiser) turned in another great pitching performance throwing seven innings and allowing just two earned runs on eight hits. Tworek got his team leading third win of the year and improved his ERA to 2.65. Darin Kilfoyl (St Johns River State) came in relief to throw a scoreless eighth inning. Josh Ibarra (Concordia-Irvine) came in the ninth and allowed one run on one hit.
Ryan Casper (Point Loma Nazarene) went 2-for5 and raised his league leading batting average to .436. Jaylon McLaughlin (Nevada) and Benjamin Sems (Kansas) had two hits a piece tonight. McLaughlin’s two hit night gave him his sixth multi-hit game this season.
Rochester wasted no time putting a run on the board as Michael Michalak (Illinois) drove a sacrifice fly to right in the first. The Larks tied the game up right away as Kyle Stevens (Murray State) doubled to bring home a run.
The Honkers offense came alive in the fifth as Casper and Michalak both had RBI singles to left. Sems doubled to bring home another run.
The Larks (9-5) came back in sixth as Brandon Barna (Alcorn State) scored on an error. The Larks got another one back in the seventh from a RBI single off the bat of Cristian Montes (Stony Brook) to pull within one.
Rochester put the game away in the eight as Griffin Schneider (Century) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring a home run. Michalak and Reed Hjelle (Minnesota-Crookston) both came around to score on an error.
The Larks put up a fight in the ninth as Ripken Reyes (California) grounded out to bring home a run.
Bismarck starting pitcher Cruz Daddario (Cal State-Northridge) got tagged with the loss after tossing six innings and allowing four runs on eight hits.
The Honkers return to Mayo Field Tuesday for a 7:05 p.m. match-up with the La Crosse Loggers. It is the first of a 4-game home stand. Tuesday is Digital Portrait Night presented by Salt & Pepper Photography and KROC 106.9.
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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.
