{"id":17389,"date":"2026-07-13T22:35:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/?p=17389"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:35:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:35:40","slug":"honkers-bats-explode-in-16-6-win-over-border-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/rochester-honkers\/2026\/07\/13\/honkers-bats-explode-in-16-6-win-over-border-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"Honkers\u2019 bats explode in 16\u20136 win over Border Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ROCHESTER, Minn. \u2014<\/strong>The Rochester Honkers powered their way to a 16\u20136 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Sunday night, using a relentless offensive attack and contributions throughout the lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Right-hander Payne Lochridge made his seventh appearance of the season for Rochester and faced immediate trouble in the first inning. After issuing back-to-back walks, Lochridge surrendered an RBI single to Manny Alberto, giving Thunder Bay an early 1\u20130 lead.<\/p>\n<p>The Honkers answered right away.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Maize opened the bottom of the first with a single, and Angel Santiago followed with a stand-up double to score Maize. A groundout from Jackson Glueck moved Santiago to third, and Orr brought him home with a sacrifice fly as Rochester took a 2\u20131 advantage it would never relinquish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMentality, to be honest,\u201d Santiago said. \u201cDay by day, I feel good, and no matter what happens the day before, just flush it and keep moving to the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Honkers kept the pressure on in the second inning. Seth Thompson led off by launching a solo home run over the fence, extending the lead. Two walks and an error later loaded the bases for Maize, who drove in two more runs. Rochester plated three runs in the inning to build an early cushion.<\/p>\n<p>Lochridge settled in during the third, escaping a jam with an unusual 3\u20136\u20133 double play after allowing a walk and a single.<\/p>\n<p>Cooper Kruk continued his torrid stretch at the plate after a 3-for-3 performance the night before. Kruk hammered a ball off the batter\u2019s eye in deep center field for a stand-up triple and later scored on a groundout, pushing Rochester\u2019s lead to 5\u20131. He finished the game a double short of the cycle.<\/p>\n<p>The fourth inning brought Lochridge\u2019s toughest test. Three walks and several hits led to a three-run inning for Thunder Bay, trimming the deficit to 6\u20134.<\/p>\n<p>Rochester quickly responded. In the bottom of the fourth, Brunetti flipped the lineup over, and a string of base hits allowed the top of the order to cash in as the Honkers erupted for four more runs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoing into the box and being ready to hit early in the count,\u201d assistant coach Fernando Loera said. \u201cI think that kind of set the tone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The aggressive approach carried into the late innings.<\/p>\n<p>Lochridge turned the game over to Gavin Simirdiak, who tossed 1\u2153 innings and allowed one run in the sixth.<\/p>\n<p>The Honkers then put the game away with a massive six-run sixth inning. Santiago, Kruk, and Brunetti each homered during the frame as Rochester\u2019s offense continued to pour it on.<\/p>\n<p>Trent Adrian handled the remainder of the game for the Honkers, allowing just one run in the eighth before closing out the 16\u20136 win.<\/p>\n<p>Rochester will go on a two game road stretch in Duluth before they come back to Mayo Field to play the Huskies at home on Thursday night at 6:35 p.m.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>####<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>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 32<sup>nd<\/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><a href=\"http:\/\/www.watchnwl.com\/\"><em>watchnwl.com<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0and on ESPN+. For more information, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochesterhonkers.com\/\">www.rochesterhonkers.com<\/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.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROCHESTER, Minn. \u2014The Rochester Honkers powered their way to a 16\u20136 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Sunday  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":17390,"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-17389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepagenewsslider","category-team-news","category-update-ticker"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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