Rochester, MN. – The Honkers got a big home run to win game one against Thunder Bay, but Rochester couldn’t get that big extra-base hit when they needed it during their 2-0 loss on Monday, July 8.
Rochester’s starter Ryan Dorney (Saint Martin’s) got off to an impressive start by retiring the side in the top of the first inning.
Thunder Bay’s starter Tyler Hansen held serve by getting his own 1-2-3 inning on his first trip to the pitcher’s mound.
Unfortunately, the Border Cats got the scoring started in the second inning when Alexander Hernandez hit a solo home run over the left center field wall to give Thunder Bay a 1-0 lead.
The Honkers had a good chance to score in the bottom of the third inning when Mitchell Allen (New Mexico State) drew a walk, Vinny Tosti (Oregon) singled, and Evan Berkey (California State, Bakersfield) also singled to load the bases. However, Hansen recovered nicely by getting a strikeout against Kyler McMahan (Oregon State) and inducing a groundout from Andy Armstrong (Oregon State).
After a relatively quiet fourth and fifth inning, Thunder Bay threatened to score in the top of the sixth when Ryne Edmondson drew a walk, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and reach third base on a groundout. Thankfully, Dorney struckout Hernandez to get the final out of the inning and his start.
Rochester got their probably their best scoring opportunity in the bottom half of the seventh. It began when Logan Denhom (California-Davis) drew a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. He then tried to score on a single by Berkey but Border Cats’ center fielder Jakob Newton made a great throw to his catcher who tagged Denholm out to end the inning.
The Border Cats got an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning when Nate Soriano got his first hit of the series, a single, to score Jordan Larson from third base.
The Honker had a glimmer of hope in the bottom of the ninth when Nate Webb (California-Riverside) led off the inning with a double down the third base line. Unfortunately, Border Cats’ reliever Aaron Kern recorded two straight strikeouts and got Tosti to hit a fly out to center field to give Thunder Bay a 2-0 win.
Rochester’s second half record drops to 3-3 and their overall record drops to 21-20.
Dorney was named the Profile Sanford Player of the Game for striking out six batters and only giving up two hits in six innings of work.
The Flock travels to St. Cloud, MN, to take on the Rox on Tuesday, July 9, at 7:05 p.m. On Wednesday, July 10, the Honkers host a double-header against St. Cloud with the second game making up for the postponed game on June 15. Both games will last seven innings.
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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