EAU CLAIRE, WI – The Rochester Honkers lost to the Eau Claire Express 4-3 on Saturday night at Carson Park. 

Eau Claire took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Jacob Smith (Tennessee at Martin) walked the first two batters and both came around to score on errors by Michael Brown (Washington) and Alex Ritzer (UNC). However, the Honkers responded in the third. Carson Stevens (Cal Poly) tied the game with a two run single up the middle. Rochester took the lead in the fourth thanks to an Alex Pimentel (UNLV) RBI groundout. 

The Express tied the game in the fifth. Max Coupe (Skyline College) evened it up with a solo home run, his first of the summer. The score remained 3-3 until the bottom of the ninth thanks to great pitching out of the bullpen. AJ Campbell (Frostburg State) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Jacob Smith and Jacob Mead (Finlandia) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. 

Unfortunately for the Honkers the Express rallied in the bottom of the ninth against Tim Sabo (Florida Southern). With two on and two outs Trevor Haskins (Stanford) won it for Eau Claire with a pop fly RBI single down the right field line that barely stayed fair, landing inches to the left of the foul line in fair territory. 

With the loss the Honkers fall to 22-25 overall and 7-6 in the second half. They’ll look for the series split Sunday night at Mayo Field with Noah Rooney (Minnesota) on the mound. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m.