(Rochester, Minn.) – With the game tied in the eighth, Nate Webb (UC Riverside) drove in two runs with a single to lead the Rochester Honkers past the Thunder Bay Border Cats 6-4 Thursday at Mayo Field. The Honkers improve to 6-9 in the second half and 23-28 overall. The Border Cats lost their sixth straight and fall to 5-10 and 18-33.
Rochester starting pitcher Chad Tworek (Keiser) threw 5 1/3 innings surrendering four runs on five hits and whiffed nine. Michael Brandt (Augustana) worked 2/3 of an inning and struck out two. Drew Slade (Ripon) was rewarded with his second win of the year after tossing two scoreless innings in relief. Joshua Ibarra (Concordia Irvine) worked a scoreless ninth to post his ninth save of the year.
Alex McGarry (Oregon State) went 3-for-5 and hit a home run to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
Brady Gulakowski (North Carolina State) gave the Border Cats a 1-0 lead in the first hitting a sacrifice fly to deep center field.
Thunder Bay extended their lead with a three-run sixth inning. Billy Cook (Pepperdine) crushed a two-run home run over the left field wall to put Thunder Bay up 3-0. Nick Conti (Eckerd College) capped off the scoring in the inning with a RBI double to push the Thunder Bay lead to 4-0.
The Honkers fought back in the sixth as Webb stole third and came in to score on a throwing error to get the Honkers on the board. Mike Peabody (UC Irvine) came around to score on a wild pitch to cut the Thunder Bay lead to 4-2.
McGarry cut the Border Cats lead to 4-3 as he launched his fourth home run of the year over the right field wall in the seventh.
In the eighth, Casey Dunlap (Point Loma Nazarene) tied the game at four coming around to score on a wild pitch for the Honkers. Webb then hit a two-run single to left to put the Honkers up 6-4.
Keenan Eaton (Colorado Mesa) was the losing pitcher for the Border Cats. Eaton surrendered three runs on two hits in one inning of work.
The Honkers and the Border Cats play the series finale Friday at Mayo Field. Matteo Bocchi (Texas) is scheduled to start for the Honkers, Bocchi has a 0-1 record and a 13.50 ERA. Drew Gooch (Texas at Arlington) is scheduled to pitch for the Border Cats, the left-hander has compiled a 2-3 record and a 2.57 ERA. Friday is Kids 3 Buck Day presented by Overby Orthodontics, kids 12 and under gain general admission for $3. First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 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.
