DULUTH, MINN – The Rochester Honkers won their second game in a row on Wednesday night, defeating the Duluth Huskies 6-2 at Wade Stadium. 

Rochester wasted no time drawing first blood. After Theo Hardy (San Jose State) and Nico Regino (Charleston Southern) walked, Alex Pimentel (Long Beach State) drove them both in with a two run triple. The Honkers took a 2-0 lead before Nate Hansen (Delta College) even threw a pitch. 

Hansen took the mound in the bottom half, making his summer debut. The Rochester starter kept the Huskies off the board in his first three innings, stranding five. However he gave up the lead in the fourth. After hitting Devin Hurdle (Nebraska Omaha), Hudson Sapp (Ole Miss) promptly drove him home with an RBI double. The next batter, Bobby Blandford (Fresno State) tied the game with an RBI single. 

Hansen rebounded with a scoreless fifth and the Honkers re-took the lead in the sixth. With the bases loaded and nobody out Colby Wilkerson (UNC) hit into a double play allowing Michael Brown (Washington) to score. With a runner at third and two outs Theo Hardy lined an RBI single to center, making it a two run Rochester lead again. 

The Honkers added two more in the eighth to pull away. Michael Brown hit his first home run of the summer, a no-doubt solo shot to right field, making it 5-2. Tyler White (Long Beach State) singled up the middle, stole second and third and scored on a throwing error. 

On the pitching side the Honkers staff was fantastic. Hansen became the 11th Honkers starter in the last 12 games to allow three earned runs or fewer in a start. The Rochester bullpen backed him up with four scoreless innings. Carson Revay (Fresno State) threw a scoreless sixth. Through six appearances Revay has a 1.80 ERA. Jace Root (Santa Clara) pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings. Root has not allowed an earned run in his last 15 innings, his ERA is down to 2.08 this summer. Thaniel Trumper (Doane) came on in the ninth and closed it out by fanning a pair. Trumper has a 2.45 ERA over 13 appearances and 31 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. 

Nate Hansen picks up the win in his summer debut. With the victory the Honkers win their second in a row and improve to 13-16 this summer. They’ll look for the series sweep with David Rodriguez (Delta College) on the mound tomorrow night. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. from Wade Stadium.