(Rochester, Minn.) – The Rochester Honkers completed their third sweep of the year defeating the Thunder Bay Border Cats 7-3 on Wednesday at Mayo Field in a rain shortened game. The two teams completed six and a half innings before the rain came in. Rochester improved their record to 13-9 on the season as Thunder Bay falls to 5-17.
Honkers starting pitcher David Lemasters (Lake Erie) gave the Honkers another great outing despite allowing his first runs of the season after 20 2/3 scoreless innings. Lemasters tossed six innings giving up two runs on six hits and struck out six. Lemasters was awarded with the win tonight improving his record to 4-0. Thomas Greely (San Joaquin Delta College) came in relief to work one inning and allowed one run on one hit.
Thunder Bay got on the board in the first off a ground out from Evan Russell (Tennessee) that brought home a run. The Border Cats took a 2-0 lead later in the first on a RBI single by Brady Gulakowski (NC State).
The Honkers immediately responded with two runs of their own in the first. Ryan Casper (Point Loma Nazarene) came around to score on a throwing error, later in the inning Michael Michalak (Illinois) scored on a wild pitch.
In the second, Rochester took the lead as Alex McGarry (Oregon State) brought home two runs with a single to put the Honkers up 4-2.
The Honkers extended their lead in the fourth as Benjamin Sems (Kansas) singled to right field to bring home a run. Nate Webb (UC Riverside) beat out an infield single later in the inning to drive in his first run of the year.
McGarry extended the Honkers lead to 7-2 in the fifth as he drove home his third run of the game with a single to right. McGarry finished the night leading the Honkers with two hits.
Thunder Bay fought back in the seventh as Brandon Trammell (Tennessee) launched a solo home run to cut the Honkers lead to four runs.
Thunder Bay starter Omar Maldonado III (Graceland) got tagged with the loss after tossing two innings and giving up four runs on one hit and walking six.
The Honkers are off to Bismarck to take on the Larks in a two-game series beginning on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Zak Devermann (Illinois) is scheduled to start for Rochester, Devermann has compiled a 1-1 record and a 3.93 ERA. Hendry Rodriguez (LSU-Alexandria) is scheduled to start for the Larks.
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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.
