La Crosse, WI — After La Crosse jumped out to an early lead, Rochester rallied with five unanswered runs to win 5-2 on Saturday, July 29.
The Flock’s starting pitcher Evan Layne (Lake Erie College) got off to an impressive start by retiring the side in the bottom of the first inning.
Nathan Webb (California-Riverside) got Rochester’s first hit with a single in the top of the second, but La Crosse starter Nick Eaton retired the next two batters to strand Webb at first.
The Loggers’ offense unfortunately broke through against Layne in the bottom of the second inning. JT Schwartz led off the inning with a single, Trey Harris followed with a single, and Matthew Stinebiser loaded the bases with you guessed it, a single.
Hunter Watson scored La Crosse’s first run with an RBI walk. The next batter, TJ Byrd, hit a sacrifice-fly to give the Loggers a 2-0 lead. Thankfully, Layne picked-off Stinebiser to end the inning.
The heart of the Honkers’ lineup responded in the top of the third inning. Kyler McMahan (Oregon State) hit a single and advanced to second base on an error, Tristan Peterson (New Mexico State) followed with a single, and Ryan Wrobleski (Dallas Baptist) drew a walk to load the bases.
Rochester went from trailing 2-0 to leading 3-2 with one big hit, a bases-clearing double by Logan Denholm (California-Davis).
Layne bounced back in the bottom of the third by retiring the side in just 10 pitches.
After a quiet fourth inning, the Flock’s offense picked up again in the fifth inning. McMahan got it started with a single, Andy Armstrong (Oregon State) hit a single to move McMahan into scoring position and Peterson hit a sacrifice-fly to center field to allow McMahan to tag up and advance to third base.
Wrobleski then hit the Honkers’ third single of the inning to bring home McMahan and increase Rochester’s lead to 4-2.
Layne surrendered two walks in the bottom of the fifth, but he got induced a ground-out from La Crosse second baseman Jack Filby to end the inning.
The Flock boosted their lead to 5-2 in the sixth inning when McMahan hit an RBI single.
Layne ended his night as well as he started it by retiring the side in the bottom of the sixth inning. He gave up just three hits and two runs in his six-inning start.
Anthony Rodriguez (Monroe College) pitched two scoreless innings and Keon Taylor (Georgetown College) earned the save by retiring three of the four batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth.
The 5-2 win improves the Honkers’ second half record to 12-10 and their overall record is now 30-27.
Kyler McMahan was named the Profile Sanford Player of the Game after going 4-5 with two runs scored and 1 RBI.
The Flock conclude their four-game road trip on Sunday, July 28, when they go for a sweep of the Loggers at 5:05 p.m. Rochester’s next home game is Monday, July 29, at 6:35 p.m.
