June 21, 2014
Eau Claire, WI – The St. Cloud Rox were upended by the Eau Claire Express Friday night as a two-run walk off home run from Daniel Salters proved to be the decider as the Rox fell to the Express 6-4. St. Cloud managed to tally 11 hits off two Express pitchers and led 4-3 going in to the bottom of the ninth, but the Eau Claire offense picked up with two home runs in the inning to give them the North Division victory.
In total, four players recorded two-hit nights for the Rox as Boo Vazquez, Chris Paul, Will Craig and Morgan Phillips each recorded multiple-hit games while Vazquez’s hits both went for doubles. The St. Cloud scoring began in the second inning when Kade Scivicque led off with a solo home run, his first of the year, and Charles Galiano later singled to score Will Craig who doubled earlier in the inning.
The Rox added another in the fourth off a solo home run from Mitchell Kranson and one more in the eighth as Clay Ardeeser hit a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Vazquez for his 20th RBI of the season.
Nick McCarty started on the mound for the Rox, going 4.2 innings and striking out five while allowing five hits and two earned runs to get the no-decision. He was relieved by Dalton Sawyer in the fifth, who threw 2.1 innings and did not allow a run before Ben Lumsden came in for the eighth, giving up a solo home run to Eau Claire’s Drew Turbin to make it 4-3 heading in to the ninth.
From there Kevin Burgee took the mound for the Rox, allowing a solo home run to lead off the inning and tie the game before Salters put the Express ahead for the first time with his two-run walk off blast. Burgee recorded the loss for the Rox, and now stands at 2-1 on the season with four saves in five opportunities as the Rox are now 13-11 in 2014.
Tonight’s box score can be found at http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=210338.
The Rox will stay in Eau Claire to finish the two-game series with the Express, which concludes tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. at Carson Park. After that St. Cloud travels to Waterloo for two games, before returning to Joe Faber Field on June 24th for a midweek matchup with the Alexandria Blue Anchors. The first 400 fans into the June 24th contest will receive a Rox can koozie, presented by Andy’s Towing.
Single game tickets can be purchased 24 hours a day at www.stcloudrox.com, by calling (320) 240-9798 or by visiting the Rox ticket office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex.
For more coverage of the Rox, visit www.sctimes.com,