(Rochester, Minn.)— The Rochester Honkers defeated the Kalamazoo Growlers 11-2 Wednesday night, and took the season series 3-1. Jayson Yano (Stevens Institute) earned his fourth win of the season, moving him to 4-1 on the year. Yano also had two successful pickoffs. Sean Isaac (Vanguard) was charged with the loss for Kalamazoo.
The Honkers scored two in the bottom of the first inning, bucking their recent trend of falling behind early. Adam Walton (Illinois) grounded into a double play with the bases loaded, preventing him from picking up a RBI but bringing in Alex Schultz (Nebraska-Omaha) for the first score. Connor Schaefbauer came in for the second run on an infield error.
Kalamazoo closed the gap to one on a failed pickoff attempt by Yano in the fifth, but the Cole Krzmarzick (Nevada) scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to make it 3-1.
The Growlers made another close with a run in the top of the seventh, but Rochester came back with four scores in the bottom of that same inning, including two on an two-RBI double by Dempsey Grover (UC Santa Barbara), to take a 7-2 lead.
The Honkers added four runs of insurance in the eighth, all against Kalamazoo reliever Bryan Saucedo (St. John’s River State College). Saucedo allowed the four on four walks and a hit while recording just one out.
Chad Cazplewski (St. Thomas) got his first appearance for the Honkers in the ninth and stifled any Kalamazoo comeback attempts, securing the 11-2 Honker victory.
The Honkers will be on a four game road trip to Thunder Bay and Duluth the next four days, but will be back home on June 30th at 12:05 p.m. to host the Waterloo Bucks in the first game of a home-and-home doubleheader. The second game will be in Waterloo at 7:05 that evening. It will be Kid’s 3 Buck Day Presented by Perkins. Kids 12 and under will be able to get into the game for three dollars. It will also be the first game of the 2015 Scheel’s Highway 63 Cup, given to the Winner of the Rochester-Waterloo season series.
All of the Honkers games can be found live on Sports Radio AM 1520 The Ticket with Clinton Cole. You can also listen for free at www.rochesterhonkers.com by clicking on the Listen to Games Live link. Live video streams of the games are available via the Northwoods league Live Stream, powered by Stretch Internet. To access, just visit www.northwoodsleague.com and click on the Watch Games Live link at the bottom of the page.
The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 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 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website. For more information, visit www.rochesterhonkers.com
