(Rochester, Minn.) – For the fourth time this season, the Rochester Honkers were able to score double digit runs as they defeated the Mankato MoonDogs 13-3 Sunday afternoon at Mayo Field. The 13 runs were a season high for the Honkers as they improve their second half record to 4-8 and 21-27 overall. The MoonDogs drop to 7-5 and 28-20.
Christian Robinson (Stanford) led the way for the Honkers on offense launching two home runs and finishing with five RBIs. Matt Hardy (UC Riverside) crushed a solo home run to give him his fourth of the year. Nate Webb (UC Riverside) ripped a solo home run of his own to give him his second on the season. Alex McGarry (Oregon State) finished 3-for-5 to give him his fourth straight multi-hit game.
Honkers starting pitcher Zak Devermann (Illinois) was rewarded with his third win of the year after throwing seven innings giving up two runs on nine hits. In Devermann’s last two starts, he has given up just three runs in 12 innings.
Hardy gave Rochester a 1-0 lead in the first hitting a solo home run. Webb drove a RBI double over the center fielders head to give the Honkers a 2-0 advantage. Webb was later driven in on a single off the bat of Logan Denholm (UC Davis).
The Honkers broke the game open with a four-run second inning. McGarry got the rally started driving in Andy Armstrong (Oregon State) with a single. Casey Dunlap (Point Loma Nazarene) put the Honkers up 5-0 as he came around to score on a wild pitch. Robinson capped off the scoring in the second launching a two-run home run.
The MoonDogs got on the board in the third as Austin Bull (Grand Canyon) singled to left to bring home a run.
Rochester added three more runs in the fourth. Hardy drove a RBI single down the left field line to put the Honkers up 8-1. Robinson then crushed his second two-run home run of the game to make the score 10-1.
Mankato came back to get another run in the fifth as Bull drove in his second run of the game with a double to right field.
Webb got the Honkers the run back in the seventh with a solo home run to extend the Honkers lead to 11-2.
In the eighth, Josh Elvir (Houston) responded with a solo home run of his own for the MoonDogs to cut the Honkers lead to 11-3.
In the eighth, the Honkers came back to get that run back as Robinson singled to drive in his fifth run of the contest. Denholm was then hit by a pitch to bring home another run and push the Rochester lead to 13-3.
MoonDog’s starter Nate Hickey (Tarleton State) took his fourth loss of the year. Hickey surrendered seven runs on seven hits over two innings of work.
The Honkers have the day off on Monday before traveling to St. Cloud for a two-game series with the Rox on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
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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.
