<\/p>\n
Mankato, MN \u2014 The Honkers needed a win to stay in the playoff hunt and thanks to six early runs and solid pitching, they got a 6-2 victory over the MoonDogs.<\/p>\n
Mankato struck first when Nick Novak drew a walk, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a wild pitch.<\/p>\n
Vinny Tosti (Oregon) quickly tied the score at 1-1 with an RBI single in the top of the second inning.<\/p>\n
Rochester starter Marty Tolson Jr. (Maryland-Eastern Shore) got into a jam in the bottom of the second, but his defense turned a double play to help keep the game tied.<\/p>\n
The Flock took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning when Tristan Peterson (New Mexico State) laced an RBI single into the outfield.<\/p>\n
The very next batter, Austin Schell (Golden West College), hit a double down the third base line to score Peterson and give the Honkers a two-run lead.<\/p>\n
Schell later scored on an A.J. Miller (Oregon) RBI single to make Rochester\u2019s lead 4-1.<\/p>\n
The Flock continued to batter MoonDogs\u2019 starter Jaxen Passino with two more runs in the top of the fourth inning.<\/p>\n
Both runs came off the bat of Schell who hit a single with the bases loaded to bring home Kyler McMahan (Oregon State) and Andy Armstrong (Oregon State). The Flock\u2019s lead now stood at 6-1.<\/p>\n
Tolson Jr. saved his best work for last as he retired six of the eight batters he faced throughout the fourth and fifth inning.<\/p>\n
He left the game following the fifth inning having given up only five hits and one run.<\/p>\n
In the sixth inning, Mike Lopez (Cal State-San Marcos) came in to pitch for the Honkers and he gave up a solo home run to his first batter, Michael Perez, which trimmed the Flock\u2019s lead to 6-2.<\/p>\n
However, after that, he settled down and didn\u2019t allow another hit. He did give up a walk to Sean Ross, but Evan Berkey (Cal State-Bakersfield) turned an unassisted double play to end the inning.<\/p>\n
Anthony Rodriguez (Monroe College) pitched a scoreless seventh inning.<\/p>\n
Mitchell Allen (New Mexico State) came in to pitch the eighth inning, but he got into a intense situation after giving up two singles and a walk to load the bases.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, he got Adan Fernandez to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to keep the score at 6-2.<\/p>\n
After a 1-2-3 top of the ninth for the Honkers, Rochester closer Keon Taylor (Georgetown College) came in to seal the deal.<\/p>\n
He surrendered a single to Cuba Bess, otherwise Taylor had a perfect ninth inning as he retired the three other batters he faced to give the Flock a 6-2 road win over the MoonDogs.<\/p>\n
Rochester\u2019s second half record improves to 11-10 and their overall record moves to 29-27.<\/p>\n
Austin Schell was named the Profile Sanford Player of the Game for going 2-5 with 3 RBI.<\/p>\n
The Honkers finish their road trip with two games against the La Crosse Loggers. The Saturday, July 26, game starts at 6:05 p.m. First pitch for the Sunday, July 27, game is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Mankato, MN \u2014 The Honkers needed a win to stay in the playoff hunt and thanks to six early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":12035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,15,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepagenewsslider","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n