Mankato, MN – Despite outhitting the Mankato MoonDogs Wednesday night, the St. Cloud Rox lost for the second night in a row, falling by a score of 4-1 at Franklin Rogers Park. The Rox had three more hits than Mankato and left twice as many runners aboard as the MoonDogs, but were doomed after a first inning rally by Mankato that saw four runs come across the plate.

Mankato (10-6) totaled all of their runs in the first inning on two big hits, as Tyler Sullivan, who walked four times Tuesday night, walked to lead off the inning, followed by Brinn Bell, who was walked as well by Rox starting pitcher Matt Rodgers. Levi Scott then reached on a shallow base hit to left to load things up for Spencer O’Neill, who cleared the bases with a three-run double. Rodgers (1-2) then settled down to get the next two batters in order before allowing another double, this one by Eric Schenck, which drove in O’Neill to make the score 4-0 in favor of Mankato.

The lone Rox (11-5) run came in the fifth inning when Charles Galiano led off with a single and later scored on a passed ball three batters later to make it a three-run game. The Rox did have a few more chances though, as in the seventh inning, Eric Loxtercamp reached on a base hit with one out. After a sacrifice bunt by Seth Heck to move Loxtercamp into scoring position, Bradley Strong had a base hit to put runners on the corners with one out, bringing Chris Paul to the plate as the tying run. However, the Rox third baseman flied out to right field, ending the threat.

St. Cloud challenged once more in the ninth inning, as Galiano led off the frame with his second single of the night. Heck then reached on an error by Mankato first baseman Levi Scott after Loxtercamp flied out for the first out of the inning. With two runners aboard, again the Rox had a batter at the plate representing the tying run, however Strong struck out for the second out of the inning leaving the Rox to their final out in the game. Paul then reached on an infield single to load the bases for the designated hitter spot, leaving the table set for Kyle Thornell representing the go-ahead run. St. Cloud Manager Augie Rodriguez elected to bring in Clay Ardeeser off the bench to pinch hit in the big situation, but Ardeeser struck out against MoonDogs closer Jacob Westerhouse to end the game.

Through the defeat, the Rox bullpen fared well, as Tyler Peitzmeier, Tyler Deel and Ben Lumsden combined to throw a scoreless final seven innings, allowing just two hits in the process and striking out five. Offensively, Galiano finished the night 2-for-4 and Chris Paul tallied two hits as well for St. Cloud.

The road trip continues tomorrow, as the Rox will head north of the border for two games with the Thunder Bay Border Cats (5-11), who just completed a two-game sweep of Alexandria as game times of each of the next two nights are set for 6:05 p.m. CST. After that the Rox will head back to Joe Faber Field on Saturday and Sunday for a weekend series with the Kenosha Kingfish. 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 complete box score of tonight’s game, go to http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=210260

For more coverage of the Rox visit sctimes.com