ROCHESTER, MN. – It’s said that good things come in threes, and that held true during the Rochester Honkers 7-3 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats as they got three home runs, their starting pitcher Ryan Dorney (Saint Martin) only gave up three runs, and Marty Tolson Jr. (Maryland-Eastern Shore) got three strikeouts in his eight-out save in front of 618 fans.
For the third straight game Rochester scored the first run of the game. This time it came via the long ball as Tim Borden II (Louisville) hit a solo home run over the left field fence. But the Honkers didn’t stop there. Jack Thelen (UW-Milwaukee) was hit by a pitch, Henry George (UM-Duluth) hit a single and Craig Shepherd (Evansville) drove them all in with a three-run homer to give Rochester an early 4-0 lead and knock the Thunder Bay starting pitcher, Alex Dafoe, out of the game.
The Border Cats got one run back in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a double by Jake Engel followed by a RBI single by Tyson Fisher.
The Honkers increased their lead to 6-1 when Ryan Wrobleski (Dallas Baptist) hit a two-homer in bottom of the fifth inning.
Rochester added one more run in the sixth when a Wrobleski single scored Shepherd.
Honkers starter Ryan Dorney was superb through the first six innings as he got seven strikeouts while only giving up three hits, but the Border Cats’ batters finally got to him in the seventh inning. It started with a Fisher single, then Dorney walked Joe Moran, and surrendered a RBI single to Alexander Hernandez. Another walk loaded the bases and Bryce Jorgenson made Dorney pay by drawing a bases-loaded walk to cut Rochester’s lead to 7-3. After that, Dorney was taken out of the game and Tolson Jr. induced a double play to end the inning.
The Border Cats didn’t threaten again as Tolson Jr. had a 1-2-3 eighth inning and got two strikeouts in the ninth to preserve the Honkers second win of the season.
The Honkers go for the sweep of the Border Cats tomorrow night, May 31, in a scheduled 7:05 p.m. start.
Season tickets and new all-you-can-eat ticket packages are available for purchase right now at www.RochesterHonkers.com or by calling the Honkers front office at 507-289-1170.
The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 26th 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, over 200 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 (MIA). 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.
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