Waterloo, IA. – After a tough loss on Saturday, the Honkers took out their frustration on the Waterloo Bucks Sunday by beating them, 6-1.
Rochester got the scoring started when Trace Peterson (Lake Erie College) drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Honkers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Honkers’ starting pitcher Ryan Middledorf (Lake Erie College) also got off to an impressive start by not allowing a run throughout the first four innings.
After a couple of scoreless innings, Rochester got three singles and a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning to once again load the bases. This time, it was Rochester’s other Peterson, Tristan (New Mexico State), who recorded the RBI as he hit a sacrifice-fly to right field to increase the lead to 2-0.
The Honkers kept the momentum going in the fifth inning as Brennan Schmitt (UW-La Crosse) scored when Craig Shepherd (Evansville) reached first base on a Waterloo error. But the fun didn’t stop there. After a walk to Joey Daini (Sacramento City College), Evan Berkey (Cal State-Bakersfield) laced a double to left field to score Mitchell Allen (New Mexico State) and Shepherd to give Rochester a 5-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bucks got their first and only run of the game when Mike Nyisztor hit a single to right field allowing Alonzo Rubalcaba to score.
The Honkers made up for that Waterloo run in the seventh inning. Tristan Peterson got his second RBI after hitting a single to score Daini from second base.
In the bottom of the seventh, Landon Anderson (Cal State-Fullerton) relieved Middendorf and pitched two scoreless innings. Casey Nimmo (San Diego Mesa) came in to pitch the ninth inning. After a walk to his first batter, he got the last three outs of the game.
The 6-1 victory improved the Honkers’ record to 7-6.
They will try to complete the sweep of Waterloo on Monday, June 10, in a 6:35 p.m. start. Following that series, the Honkers head to Bismarck, North Dakota, to play four games in three days against the Larks.
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.
####
