(Rochester, Minn.) – The Rochester Honkers offense came alive in the fifth inning putting six runs on the board on seven hits to propel them to a 6-5 victory over the Willmar Stingers on Monday at Mayo Field. The Honkers broke a four-game losing streak and improve to 14-13 on the year. For the Stingers, they end a four-game winning streak and fall to 16-11.
Jaylon McLaughlin (Nevada) led the way for the Honkers offense with three hits in five at-bats. For McLaughlin, it was his 11th multi-hit game of the year. Casey Dunlap (Point Loma Nazarene) finished the game with two hits and sparked the fifth inning rally leading off with a single. Alex McGarry (Oregon State) drove in two runs with his second home run of the year.
Honker’s starter Darin Kilfoyl (Saint Johns River State) threw two innings due to reaching a pitch count in the second. He surrendered his first run of the year on two hits after throwing 14 1/3 scoreless innings. Ryan Dorney (St. Martin’s) came in relief to toss two innings and gave up one run on two hits, the run was not earned. Matthew Goytia (Colorado State Pueblo) was awarded with his first win of the year after giving up one run in two innings of work. Matt Hardy (UC Riverside) gave up two runs on three hits in an inning of work. Michael Brandt (Augustana) and Josh Ibarra (Concordia-Irvine) each tossed a scoreless inning to put the Stingers away. Ibarra was credited with his fourth save of the year.
Willmar took a 1-0 lead in the second on a single off the bat of Richie Garcia (Florida Gulf Coast). The Stingers extended their lead to 2-0 in the third as Matt Rudick (San Diego State) scored on an error.
Rochester came back in the fifth as Mike Peabody (UC Irvine) tied the game at two with a single to left. Ryan Casper (Point Loma Nazarene) gave the Honkers a lead as he brought home a run on a fielder’s choice, Nate Webb (UC Riverside) came around to score on the same play on a throwing error. McGarry capped off the scoring in the fifth as he launched a two-run home run to put the Honkers up 6-2.
The Stingers cut the lead to three as Eric Yang (UC-Santa Barbara) doubled down the left field line to bring home a run.
In the seventh, Yang drove in two runs with his second double of the game to cut the lead to 6-5.
Sir Gomez (Citrus) was the losing pitcher for Willmar. He threw one inning giving up two runs on three hits.
The Honkers and Stingers will rematch on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Mayo Field. Tuesday is Fly Swatter Giveaway Night presented by Bob the Bug Man and Minnesota 97.5. David Lemasters (Lake Erie) is scheduled to start for Rochester, Lemasters holds a 4-0 record and a 0.67 ERA. Lemasters will be against Jonathan McKinney (Georgia Gwinnett) from Willmar, he has posted a 1-1 record and a 4.26 ERA.
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The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.rochesterhonkers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Honkers as your favorite team.
