Rochester, MN. – The Honkers’ pitchers did their job by holding the La Crosse Loggers to an average of three runs per game in today’s doubleheader at Mayo Field, but Rochester’s offense was quiet for too many innings as they lost game one 4-2 and game two 2-1 in front of 976 fans.
Honkers’ starting pitcher Dwayne Marshall (Maryland-Eastern Shore) got the home side off to a good start by retiring the side in the top of the first inning.
Rochester almost scored their first time up to bat after Kyler McMahan (Oregon State) hit a single, stole second base, and advanced to third base on a groundout. Unfortunately, Loggers’ starting pitcher Tyler Shingledecker got the last out to prevent any runs.
La Crosse got the first run of the game in the second inning when Trey Harris hit an RBI single to give the Loggers an early 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless third inning, La Crosse added to their lead when Tony Bullard led off the inning with a solo home run.
Shingledecker allowed a single to Zack Zalesky (Oregon State) in the fourth, but his second strikeout of the night to keep the Honkers scoreless.
The Loggers made it back to back innings with the lead-off batter hitting a solo home run when Hunter Watson accomplished that feat in the fifth.
The Honkers’ offense finally got going in the bottom of the fifth when McMahan reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second base. He came around to score when Andy Armstrong (Oregon State) hit an RBI double. After a walk to Ryan Ober (Oregon State), Armstrong advanced to third base on a wild pitch and had just enough time to steal home as the La Crosse catcher had trouble locating the wild pitch. Shingledecker got his third strikeout to end the inning, but the Honkers were back in the game as they trailed 3-2.
Marc Bisogno (Fordham) was brought in to pitch the last two innings in the abbreviated seven-inning game. He allowed a single to Ryan Holgate in the sixth, but Ryan Wrobleski (Dallas Baptist) threw him out at second base to end the inning.
Bisogno gave up just one hit in the seventh inning, but it was another long ball as Watson hit his second solo home run of the game to make the score 4-2.
The Honkers threatened to score in the bottom of the seventh when McMahan singled, stole second base, and stole third base. Tristan Peterson (New Mexico State) was brought as a pinch-hitter and he was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners, but La Crosse reliever Jared Freilich got the last out of the game to give the Loggers a 4-2 win.
Armstrong was named the Profile Sanford Player of the Game for going 1-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Like Marshall in game one, Rochester starter Ryan Dorney (Saint Martin’s) got the Honkers some momentum by retiring the side in the first inning.
Unfortunately, La Crosse’s starting pitcher Tristan Harvin was able to do the same thing in the bottom half of the first.
Rochester got the first runner into scoring position in the second inning when Ober drew a walk and advanced to second base on a groundout, but Harvin got his first strikeout of the game to end the threat.
After a scoreless third inning, the Loggers got back to back doubles from Holgate and Bullard, but Holgate only advanced to third base as he was watching to see if the Honkers’ right fielder would catch Bullard’s double. Cole Elvis then drew a walk to load the bases for La Crosse with just one out. Thankfully, Dorney got back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game scoreless.
The Loggers bounced back in the fifth by getting three consecutive hits, including an RBI double from Holgate to take a 1-0 lead. Once again, Dorney limited the damage by recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and his night’s work. He finished with eight strikeouts in five innings while allowing just one run.
La Crosse added another run in the top of the sixth inning when Cody Jefferis hit an RBI single to give them a 2-0 lead.
After getting just two hits through the first six innings, the Honkers’ offense got on the board thanks to an RBI triple by Vinny Tosti (Oregon). With him now at third base, Rochester’s tying run was just 90 feet away from scoring, but Loggers’ reliever struckout Aaron Simmons to prevent this game from going to extra innings.
Tosti earned Profile Sanford Player of the Game honors for going 2-for-3 with the RBI triple.
La Crosse’s 2-1 win brought the Honkers’ first half record to 18-17.
The Honkers will travel to Waterloo, Iowa, to begin the second half of the season against the Bucks on July 3 and 4. Both games will start at 6:35 p.m.
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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