The Honkers fell behind, took the lead, lost the lead, and eventually came through to win game one of the series with Bismarck. Fresh off an 18-run outing, Rochester used the bats and key pitching to secure a second-straight win.
Bismarck opened the scoring in the opening inning of the ballgame, a single and error allowed Ben Teel (Montevallo) to come through with an RBI-single, the Larks added another with a Rochester error.
The Honkers got a run right back in the bottom half, Cam Thompson (Purdue) belted his first home run of the summer over the left field wall. With the homer, Rochester hit long balls in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
A Derek Shoen (University of Mary) RBI-single in the third gave Bismarck a 3-1 lead that was quickly erased. In the bottom half, Rochester set the table with a Mike Bolton Jr. (Purdue) walk and Cam Thompson single, both came around to score on a wild pitch and Ivan Witt (Creighton) RBI-groundout.
Rochester created separation in a five-run fourth inning, Mike Bolton Jr. notched his first Honker RBI with a bases loaded walk, and Cam Thompson drove in another run with a single. The next batter, Marco Castillo (Claremont McKenna) cleared the bases with a single and error in left to make it an 8-3 ballgame.
Bismarck would claw its way back, however, scoring a run in the seventh, and three in the eighth on a Derek Shoen double and Ryan Curran (Montevallo) single to cut the Rochester lead to one. Bismarck would tie the ballgame down to their last out, Khalid Collymore (Montevallo) came home on a wild pitch.
Needing just one run to win the ninth, Rochester mounted a rally, Mike Bolton Jr. led off with a bunt single with a throwing error that moved him to second. A Marco Castillo sacrifice bunt moved Bolton Jr. to third with one-out, and a passed ball by the Bismarck catcher allowed Bolton Jr. to score the winning run.
Brendan Medoro (Fairleigh Dickinson) earned the win, recording the final out in the ninth. Blake Gallagher (Minot State) was the loser allowing the winning run to score. Brendan Knoll (Minnesota St., Mankato) gave Rochester a solid start in his debut: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K in a no-decision.
With the win Rochester improves to 4-3. They host Bismarck again tomorrow night with first pitch at 6:35 from Mayo Field.
By Nick DeLuca//Broadcasting and Media relations intern
