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Rochester, MN<\/b> \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>As the season enters its final stretch, each game becomes more and more important and the second-place Rochester Honkers grabbed a critical win by beating the last-place Bismarck Larks 10-2 in front of 1,317 enthusiastic fans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In his second start of the season, Marc Bisogno (Fordham) gave up a lead-off single, but his defense backed him up when second baseman Evan Berkey (Cal State-Bakersfield) turned a 4-3 double play to end the inning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After a great play in the field, Berkey made a good play at the plate by hitting a single and stealing second base. Kyler McMahan (Oregon State) drew a walk and Andy Armstrong (Oregon State) hit a single to load the bases.<\/span><\/p>\n Tristan Peterson (New Mexico State) made it four straight batters to reach base safely by hitting a fielder\u2019s choice which scored Berkey from third base. McMahan then scored on a wild pitch to give Rochester a 2-0 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n Following a walk by A.J. Miller (Oregon), Mitchell Allen (New Mexico State) broke the game wide open with a three-run double that increased the Flock\u2019s to 5-0.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Honkers\u2019 defense once again showcased their great fielding by turning a 6-4-3 double play in the top of the second inning.<\/span><\/p>\n Bismarck loaded the bases in the third inning, but Bisogno retired Ty Condel to keep the Larks scoreless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Berkey nearly had a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Bismarck\u2019s left fielder Damon Lux made a catch near the top of the wall to the Flock at five runs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Larks\u2019 offense got their first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning when Brian Leonhardt scored on a wild pitch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bismarck added another run in the top of the sixth. Damon Lux hit a single, stole second base, and advanced to third base on an error. Clay Woeste then hit a sacrifice-fly to cut the Honkers\u2019 lead to 5-2.<\/span><\/p>\n However, Rochester responded with three runs in their next at-bat. Zack Zalesky (Oregon State) got it started with a walk, Allen also drew a walk, and Berkey scored the first run with an RBI single.<\/span><\/p>\n McMahan followed with another RBI single and Berkey made it 8-2 when he scored due to an error by the Larks\u2019 right fielder Ty Condel.<\/span><\/p>\n Bismarck got a lead-off double by Jack Chernow in the top of the seventh inning, but that\u2019s as close as he got to scoring against Honkers\u2019 reliever Casey Nimmo (San Diego Mesa).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Adam Fjerstad (Bethany Lutheran) pitched Rochester\u2019s first 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eighth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Flock added a couple runs to their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. It began when Berkey hit a single, then McMahan hit a single, and Peterson was hit by a pitch to load the bases.<\/span><\/p>\n Berkey scored when Larks\u2019 catcher Brody Tanksley dropped what seemed to be an easy pop-fly right in front of home plate. Ryan Ober hit an RBI single to give Rochester a 10-2 lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Allen retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning to seal the win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The 10-2 win raises the Honkers\u2019 second half record to 15-12 and their overall record is now 33-29.<\/span><\/p>\n Allen was named the Profile Sanford Player of the Game after hitting the big three-run double that broke the game wide open and pitching a scoreless ninth inning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rochester will continue their homestand on Thursday, August 1, when they begin a two-game series against the Mankato MoonDogs at 6:35 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n Season tickets and new all-you-can-eat ticket packages are available for purchase right now at <\/span>www.RochesterHonkers.com<\/span><\/a> or by calling the Honkers front office at 507-289-1170.<\/span><\/p>\n The Rochester Honkers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 26<\/span><\/i>th<\/span><\/i> 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>over 200\u00a0<\/span><\/i>former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>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 (MIA).\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>All league games are viewable live via the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Northwoods League portal<\/span><\/i><\/a>. For more information, visit\u00a0<\/span><\/i>www.rochesterhonkers.com<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u00a0or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Honkers as your favorite team.<\/span><\/i> Rochester, MN \u2013\u00a0 As the season enters its final stretch, each game becomes more and more important and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":12248,"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-12247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepagenewsslider","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\n
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