{"id":17383,"date":"2026-07-12T21:45:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T02:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/?p=17383"},"modified":"2026-07-12T21:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T02:45:42","slug":"honkers-take-game-one-in-thriller-over-border-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/2026\/07\/12\/honkers-take-game-one-in-thriller-over-border-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"Honkers Take Game One in Thriller Over Border Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROCHESTER, MINN. \u2013 \u00a0<\/strong>The Rochester Honkers survived a late scare to defeat the Thunder Bay Border Cats 9-8 Saturday night at Mayo Field, holding on after a dramatic ninth inning to improve to 7-2 in the second half.<\/p>\n

Ian Regal got the start on the mound for Rochester and worked around a leadoff single by Nate Negree in the first inning. Cooper Kruk erased the baserunner with a perfect throw to second to catch Negree stealing before Regal retired the next two hitters on a flyout and a popout.<\/p>\n

Rochester struck first in the bottom of the opening inning. Jackson Glueck lined a two-out single that ricocheted off third baseman Jesus Vasquez, setting the stage for Cooper Kruk. The cleanup hitter launched a two-run home run to give the Honkers an early 2-0 advantage.<\/p>\n

Kruk said getting ahead in the count helped him capitalize on his first at-bat.<\/p>\n

“First at bat, he got me to a 3-0 count, took the next one,” Kruk said. “And then saw another heater in the zone, and I smoked it. So that was a great start.”<\/p>\n

Both offenses cooled off until the fourth inning when Thunder Bay mounted a two-out rally. An error by Angel Santiago and a hit-by-pitch put two runners aboard before consecutive RBI singles from Jesus Vasquez and Dylan Sneed gave the Border Cats a 3-2 lead.<\/p>\n

The advantage was short-lived.<\/p>\n

After back-to-back walks to begin the bottom of the fourth, Ezekiel Mendoza crushed a three-run home run to left field, putting Rochester back in front 5-3.<\/p>\n

Thunder Bay answered again in the fifth. A walk and consecutive hits by Steven Spalitta and Mark Ross II helped the Border Cats plate two runs and trim the deficit to 5-4.<\/p>\n

The Honkers responded once more in the bottom half of the inning. Following a one-out walk to Jackson Glueck, Kruk stepped to the plate and drove the payoff pitch the opposite way for his second two-run home run of the night, extending Rochester’s lead to 7-4.<\/p>\n

Kruk credited a more relaxed approach for his recent offensive success.<\/p>\n

“I feel like I’ve just been having more fun, playing a little more free, putting a little less pressure on myself to really play at the level that I know I’m capable of, and it’s almost worked backwards,” Kruk said. “And now I feel like I’m playing free and as best as I can.”<\/p>\n

Regal completed five innings, allowing five runs\u2014two earned\u2014before turning the game over to the bullpen.<\/p>\n

Vaughn Johnson followed with two scoreless innings, stabilizing the game and giving Rochester a chance to add to its lead. The Honkers did just that in the sixth, scoring two insurance runs that ultimately proved to be the difference.<\/p>\n

Grant Origer retired the side in order in the eighth and returned for the ninth looking to close out the victory. After recording the first out, however, Thunder Bay mounted one final push. Three consecutive walks, a base hit and two more walks cut Rochester’s four-run lead to just one, forcing manager Jason Jacome to make a pitching change.<\/p>\n

J\u00e1come turned to Brandon Fears with the tying and go-ahead runs on base. Fears needed just three pitches, all strikes, to record the game’s final out and secure the victory.<\/p>\n

J\u00e1come said Fears was the right arm for the situation.<\/p>\n

“He’s a power arm. He throws strikes, and you know that’s what you need in that situation,” J\u00e1come said. “Somebody to come out there and throw strikes and get people out.”<\/p>\n

With the win, Rochester improved to 7-2 in the second half and will look to complete the two-game series sweep against Thunder Bay on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Mayo Field.<\/p>\n

####<\/em><\/p>\n

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. Now in its\u2019 32nd<\/sup>\u00a0season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 24 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, 360 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 two-time World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TOR), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford \u00a0and World Series Champion and Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019\/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at\u00a0<\/em>watchnwl.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and on ESPN+. For more information, visit\u00a0<\/em>www.rochesterhonkers.com<\/a><\/em>\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.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROCHESTER, MINN. \u2013 \u00a0The Rochester Honkers survived a late scare to defeat the Thunder Bay Border Cats 9-8 Saturday night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":17384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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-17383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepagenewsslider","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"\nHonkers Take Game One in Thriller Over Border Cats - Rochester Honkers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/2026\/07\/12\/honkers-take-game-one-in-thriller-over-border-cats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honkers Take Game One in Thriller Over Border Cats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ROCHESTER, MINN. \u2013 \u00a0The Rochester Honkers survived a late scare to defeat the Thunder Bay Border Cats 9-8 Saturday night [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/2026\/07\/12\/honkers-take-game-one-in-thriller-over-border-cats\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rochester Honkers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T02:45:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.northwoodsleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/07\/Honkers-05292026-164-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin-rochester\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin-rochester\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/2026\/07\/12\/honkers-take-game-one-in-thriller-over-border-cats\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/2026\/07\/12\/honkers-take-game-one-in-thriller-over-border-cats\/\",\"name\":\"Honkers Take Game One in Thriller Over Border Cats - 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