After falling into early hole, Rochester rebounded with runs in four of five innings and blanked the Loggers the rest of the way. Three Honker pitchers combined to hold La Crosse scoreless for 8.2 in the 6-2 series opening victory.

Pancho Ruiz (San Jose St) jolted the Loggers in front with a first inning home run. That was all that La Crosse’s offense would muster on the night. Aaron Vernon (Benedicitne Mesa) tossed 3.2 scoreless to finish his outing, working four innings, allowing five hits, two runs, a walk and four strikeouts.

Patrick Williams (Lipscomb) earned the victory in relief, posting three shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one. Darren Jansen (San Jose) closed out the strong Rochester pitching performance with a two inning save.

With La Crosse held off the scoreboard, the Honker offense took advantage with a stretch of runs in four of five innings: getting on the board in the second on a JJ Cruz (Cal St Fullerton) RBI groundout.

Rochester took the lead with a two-out, two RBI single by Cole Fontenelle. (Washington) It was the second of the freshman’s three hits on the night.

Jack Colette (San Jose St) came around to score on a wild pitch in the fourth and the Honkers capped their night with a Mike Bolton Jr (Purdue) RBI double and error in the sixth.

With the win, Rochester improves to 7-7 in the second half and 22-24 overall. The series finale with La Crosse is tomorrow at 6:35 at Mayo Field.

By Nick DeLuca//Broadcasting and Media Relations Intern