(Rochester, Minn.) – The Rochester Honkers ripped three home runs highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Logan Denholm (UC Davis) to defeat the Mankato MoonDogs 10-4 Friday at Mayo Field. The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Honkers as they move to 3-7 in the second half and 20-26 overall. The MoonDogs fall to 6-4 and 27-19.
Christian Robinson (Stanford) went 2-for-5 and ripped a solo home run to give him his fourth on the season. Additionally, Alex McGarry (Oregon State) had two hits and crushed a solo home run of his own. Mike Peabody (UC Irvine) finished 2-for-4 and scored two runs for the Honkers.
Honkers starting pitcher Chad Tworek (Keiser) earned his fifth win of the year after working six innings surrendering three runs on nine hits. Connor McCollum (Colorado Christian) tossed a scoreless seventh and Matthew Goytia (Colorado State Pueblo) came in to work a scoreless eighth and ninth out of the bullpen.
The Honkers jumped ahead early scoring four runs in the first. Michael Michalak (Illinois) drove in the first run of the game with a single up the middle. Peabody gave the Honkers a 3-0 lead driving in two runs with a single. Nate Webb (UC Riverside) capped off the scoring in the first with a RBI double over the center fielders head.
The MoonDogs came back in the second to get a run back. RJ Teijeiro (UCLA) hit a RBI single to left to cut the Honkers lead to 4-1.
Mankato put up two more runs in the third. Nick Novak (Angelo State) hit a two-RBI single to make the score 4-3.
In the third, Denholm put the Honkers up 8-3 with one swing of the bat crushing a grand slam over the left field wall.
Robinson and McGarry hit a solo home run a piece in the fourth to extend the Honkers lead to 10-3.
Kyle MacDonald got a run back for the MoonDogs driving in his 50th run of the year with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
MoonDogs starting pitcher Jon Ludwig (Minnesota State) picked up his second loss of the year after giving up eight runs on eight hits over 2 1/3 innings.
The Honkers and the MoonDogs play the second of the four-game series Saturday at Franklin Rogers Park. Eddie Mathis (Bellarmine) is scheduled to make his second start for the Honkers, Mathis has 6.00 ERA and a 0-0 record. Jarod Wright (Southern Mississippi) is scheduled to start for Mankato, Wright has recorded a 4.43 ERA and a 0-1 record. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
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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.
