The Rox Offense Ignites for a Big Monday Night

St. Cloud, Minn. – The St. Cloud Rox came up short in the first game versus the Rochester Honkers 8-6 Monday night.  The suspended game was resumed at 5:05 with the Rox trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the third inning with bases loaded and no outs.

Austin Caspersen (Doane College) started the resumed game for the Rox and pitched three innings, striking out three batters and only allowing three hits. Erik Martinez then came in relief and threw three innings, striking out four batters and only allowing two hits.

The Rox offense was led by third basemen Connor Crane (McNeese State) who went 2 for 4 with one RBI and two runs scored.  Kyle Serrano (Colorado Mesa University) also two for four with two RBIs. Joe Tietjen (UNC Ashville), Liam Bedford (Doane College) and Brandon Benson (Georgia College) each had one RBI.

The Rox won the second game 4-1 after a masterful pitching performance by Sheldon Miks (St. Cloud State). Miks went five innings, striking out five batters, scattering five hits and allowing only one run. Trevor Charpie (Saddleback Community College) came in for the two-inning save, which was his fifth save of the season.

Tietjen stayed hot in game two as he went 2 for 4, two RBIs and scored one run. Austin Athmann added another RBI while the other run was scored on one of the four Honkers’ errors.

Brett Pope (Western Carolina University) had an impressive debut for the Rox in front of a home crowd of 1,803 as he reached base all three times with a hit, walk and a fielder’s choice. He scored one run and made a perfect, unbalanced throw from shallow right field after a heads up play by Lee Miller (Davidson College) to get the runner out at the plate in the sixth inning.

The Rox return to action tomorrow night at Joe Faber Field at 7:05 p.m. with gates opening at 6:05 p.m. The game versus the Honkers is “Rox”, Paper, Scissors tournament presented by IRET Properties. It will also be a Mobil Super Night.

Game one’s St. Cloud Times Player of the Game was third basemen Connor Crane.  Game two’s Player of the Game was Sheldon Miks. For more coverage of the Rox during the 2015 season visit www.sctimes.com.

For more stats and information about tonight’s first game, here is the first boxscore: http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=292543

For more stats and information about tonight’s second game, here is the first boxscore: http://northwoods.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=260219

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.

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22^nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest summer collegiate baseball league in the world with 18 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, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com.