Wednesday’s loss against Eau Claire rang eerily similar to Tuesday for Honkers fans. Mattie Thomas homered. They generated traffic on the base paths but were unable to execute in clutch situations.
But perhaps the strangest parallel to the previous night’s contest was the opposing pitching. Thunder Bay’s starter, Andrew Hardin, went 5 innings, giving up three runs. That was the exact line for Eau Claire’s Evan Esch. Both games saw only one reliever enter for a four-inning save.
In the first inning, Rochester mustered their only offense of the game, blasting back-to-back homers courtesy of Thomas and Ryan Tiger. Past that, they were held scoreless.
Defensively, the game got off to a rough start when Honkers shortstop Nico Defazio committed an error. Starter Daniel Zang tight roped his way out of the jam and ended up going 5.1 solid innings.
Defazio more than compensated for the mistake. In the bottom of the first, he looped a ball down the left field line and stretched it into a double. He later added two more hits to his line.
The Rochester bullpen was exceptional again, as Josiah Granados and Cam Cunnings combined for 3.2 scoreless frames.
Ultimately, the Honkers couldn’t figure out Eau Claire reliever Drew Whalen. He shut down the Rochester bats and ultimately lifted the Express to a 4-3 victory.
The Honkers will hit the road and travel to Eau Claire tomorrow night, first pitch is scheduled for 6:35.
The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Entering its’ 31st season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 26 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, over 350 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TEX), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (STL) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, 2021 and 2023 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com and on ESPN+. For more information, visit northwoodsleague.com/rochester-honkers 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.
