(Rochester, Minn.) – The Willmar Stingers offense led them to complete the sweep and defeat the Rochester Honkers 7-1 Friday at Bill Taunton Stadium. The division leading Stingers won their third straight to move to 24-11 in the second half and 46-24 overall. The Honkers dropped their second straight to fall to 16-18 and 33-37.
The Honkers were able to strike first in the fourth. Christian Robinson (Stanford) launched a solo home run to give Rochester a 1-0 advantage. For Robinson, it was his team leading 10th homer of the year.
The Stingers responded with a three-run fourth inning. Nic Hernandez (Cal Poly Pomona) came around to score on a wild pitch and tie the game at one. Tyler Reichenborn (Iowa Western) crushed a two-run home run to put Willmar up 3-1.
The Stingers rallied for four runs in the fifth. John Trousdale (Alabama) hit a two-RBI single to extend Willmar’s lead to 5-1. Eric Yang (UC Santa Barbara) collected two RBIs of his own driving a double to give the Stingers a 7-1 lead.
Honkers starting pitcher Cole Quintanilla (Texas) was tagged with his third loss of the season. Quintanilla pitched four innings and gave up three runs on four hits. Nick Simak (Roosevelt) came in relief and tossed one inning surrendering four runs on four hits. Erik Edminster (Loras) tossed two scoreless innings and picked up a strikeout. Nate Webb (UC Riverside) tossed a scoreless eighth inning and struck out two.
Matt Hardy (UC Riverside) had the lone multi-hit game for Rochester, Hardy went 2-for-4 to give himself his 12th multi-hit game of the summer.
Stingers starting pitcher Noah Fluman (San Diego State) picked up his second win of the year. Fluman worked five innings giving up one run on four hits.
The Honkers begin their last series of the year Saturday against the Bucks in Waterloo. Mike Townsend (UCLA) is scheduled to start for the Bucks, Townsend has a 0-2 record and a 6.42 ERA. The Honkers probable pitcher is to be determined. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 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, 200 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
