ROCHESTER, MINN – The Rochester Honkers battled back from an 11 run deficit but couldn’t complete the comeback as they fell to the Mankato MoonDogs 12-10 Friday night at Mayo Field. 

The MoonDogs scored first in the third on a Simon Scherry (Evansville) RBI single.. They added two more in the fourth on an Orlando Salinas (Kansas State) two run double to make it 3-0. When we got to the seventh, things got very wacky. 

The MoonDogs put up eight runs in the top of the seventh, the big hits were a two run single off the bat of Kai Roberts (Utah) and a two run home run by Ariel Armas (San Diego). 

However, Rochester came right back in the bottom half of the inning. They scored six to make it a 11-6 game. Austin Davis (West Virginia) cracked his first home run of the summer in the inning, a three run shot. After the MoonDogs added a run in the eighth the Honkers scored four more to make it 12-10. 

But in the ninth Rochester couldn’t get anything going as they went down 1-2-3, losing by two in a game they once trailed 11-0. 

The Honkers will go for the series split tomorrow night with Noah Rooney (Minnesota) on the mound. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.