ROCHESTER, MINN – The Rochester Honkers won their second straight game on Saturday night, defeating the Minnesota Mud Puppies 9-6 at Mayo Field. 

AJ Campbell (Frostburg State) got the start for Rochester and immediately gave up a run. Cameron Hunter (Highland CC) drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single, making it 1-0 Minnesota. The lead didn’t last long, Rochester scored three in the second to take a two run lead. Alex Ritzer (UNC) tied the game with an RBI single and the Honkers took the lead after Teddy Deters (Xavier) dropped a pop up off the bat of Michael Carico (Davidson) allowing two runs to score. Rochester added another in the third when Will Asby (University of San Francisco) hit his second home run of the season, making it 4-1. 

The Mud Puppies pulled within one in the fifth. An RBI double by Ben Vujovich (University of St. Thomas) and RBI single off the bat of Sterling Sutcliffe (Hutchinson CC) made it a 4-3 Honker lead. But like Rochester has done all season, they quickly responded. The Honkers took a five run lead after scoring four runs. The first four Honkers reached and all of them scored. Alex Ritzer drove in another with an RBI single and Nate Chester (Mississippi State) followed him up with an RBI single of his own. Alex Ritzer came around to score on a wild pitch and Michael Carico drove in Chester with a sac fly. 

With it 8-3 the Mud Puppies pulled within two in the sixth. They scored three runs on a throwing error, RBI single by Matthew Fleischhacker (Minnesota State, Mankato) and groundout off the bat of Ben Vujovich. There were nine combined runs scored from the top of the fifth through the top of the sixth. 

The game settled in afterwards with one more run scoring when Alex Ritzer crossed the plate on a wild pitch in the seventh. Jace Root (Santa Clara) threw two scoreless innings out of the bullpen and Caleb Lingenfelter (Roanoke) picked up his first save of the season after striking out two in the ninth. 

The Honkers improve to 4-1 at Mayo Field this season and win back to back games for the first time this season. They will embark on another four game road trip starting Sunday when they take on the Duluth Huskies. David Rodriguez (Delta College) will make the start for Rochester. First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. from Duluth.