ROCHESTER, MINN – For the second consecutive night the Rochester Honkers pitching staff struggled as they lost to the Mankato MoonDogs 11-3 on Friday night at ISG Field.
Mankato jumped ahead early again, scoring a run in the first on an RBI double from Brendan Hord (Evansville) and two in the second on RBI singles from Easton Fritcher (Minnesota) and Sean Ross (Indiana State). The Honkers responded with two runs in the third. Dario Gomez (Nevada) drove in a run with a sac-fly and Theo Hardy (San Jose State) scored on a wild pitch.
From there it was all MoonDogs, they scored eight of the next nine runs of the game to pull away. Rochester pulled within two in the sixth when Carson Stevens (Cal Poly) hit a solo home run but Mankato responded right away as Charles McAdoo (San Jose State) lifted a two run home run to right field in the bottom half.
Mankato scored in six of the eight innings they came to bat on Friday night as they won 11-3 and completed a two game sweep over Rochester, outscoring them 30-6. With the loss the Honkers fall to 24-30 overall. Rochester heads home to begin a seven game homestand on Saturday, they’ll host the Eau Claire Express for the second time in as many weeks. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. from Mayo Field.