St. Cloud, MN – The St. Cloud Rox used a brilliant pitching performance from Kenny Anderson as the offense drilled 13 hits to defeat the Alexandria Blue Anchors 10-2 Sunday afternoon at Joe Faber Field, becoming the first team in the Northwoods League to 10 wins. Anderson threw seven strong innings for the Rox, keeping the Blue Anchors scoreless until the seventh as he allowed four hits and struck out two to pick up the win on the mound (1-1).

Offensively, eight Rox batters recorded hits in the win, as Chris Paul continued his dominating stretch, going 3-for-4 Sunday with three RBIs and two doubles to lead the team. Paul has now gone 11-for-18 in his last four games, tallying five doubles in that span while driving in 11 runs. In that four-game stretch, St. Cloud as a team has scored 39 runs on 47 hits while picking up four wins in the process. The Rox also got two-hit afternoons on Sunday from Bradley Strong, Harrison Wenson and Eric Loxtercamp, as Wenson and Loxtercamp each tallied doubles and Strong drove in two runs for the Rox, who moved to 10-3 on the season after the victory.

The Rox offense got going early on Sunday, posting all their runs in the first five innings and scoring each of those innings to jump to a 10-0 lead. The Rox recorded three straight hits in the first inning, the third coming off the bat of Nate Robertson which brought Seth Heck around to score for the first run of the game, and Paul later scored off an error to put the Rox ahead 2-0. St. Cloud then tacked on two more in the second off a two-RBI double from Paul, and three more in the third as Strong roped a single that scored two runs.

After posting another run in the fourth inning, The Rox tallied their final scores in the fifth, coming in the form of a sacrifice fly from Paul that brought home Loxtercamp and an RBI ground out from Ardeeser to give them 10 runs in the game.

Anderson allowed his two runs in the seventh due to three hits from the Blue Anchors in the inning as he recorded the final out with a runner in scoring position to halt the Alexandria rally. From there, Tyler Deel made his first appearance of the year on the mound in the eighth, going one inning without allowing a hit or run, and Troy Whitty came on in the ninth, setting down the Blue Anchors in order to complete the victory for St. Cloud.

With his three-hit performance, Paul continues to lead the Northwoods League in batting average, as he is now hitting at a rate of .439 (18-for-41) on the season and moves into second place in doubles (6), as Rox first baseman Clay Ardeeser is the only player ahead of him (7) on the list.

The Rox will now play the Blue Anchors in Alexandria at 6:35 p.m. Monday, before heading to Mankato for a two-game series with the MoonDogs beginning Tuesday. After that the Rox will cross the border to take on Thunder Bay for two games before heading home for a weekend series with Kenosha on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will be Baseball Bat Giveaway Night at Joe Faber Field, presented by the St. Cloud Hospital Stroke Center, as the first 300 kids 14-and-under will receive a Rox 28” wood baseball bat.

For a full box score, go to http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscore.html?gameid=210233

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