St. Cloud, Minn. – The St. Cloud Rox will be heading into the Northwoods League playoffs with the overall best record in the league. The Rox will host the team’s first playoff game in team history on Monday, August 10^th as they host the Rochester Honkers at 7:05 p.m.  Gates will open for fans at 6:05 p.m. St. Cloud will hold home field advantage throughout the playoffs in the confines of the Rock Pile in St. Cloud.

St. Cloud native Reese Gregory (St. Cloud State) will start on the mound for the Rox while Joshua Pigg will start for Rochester. 

The Rox finished the second half of the season with a record of 30-8 while their overall record is 49-23, both league bests. The 49 total wins set a team record for most wins in a season.  St. Cloud took the North Division by 1.5 games over the Willmar Stingers in the overall standings and the second half’s top spot by 5.5 games.

The St. Cloud offense would be led by John Sansone (Florida State University) who holds the team’s best .321 batting average and five home runs. Sansone drove in 20 RBIs and scored 27 runs.  Austin Athmann (University of Minnesota) led the Rox with 42 RBIs to go with a batting average of .292 and five home runs. Athmann’s 64 hits were the most on the team in the regular season.

Lee Miller (Davidson College) would finish the season with the second most hits on the Rox with 61. Miller would finish with a .295 batting average, four homeruns, 36 RBIs and 41 runs scored. Connor Crane (McNeese State) finished the regular season tied for the team lead in homeruns (5) and the team lead in runs scored with 41. Joe Tietjen’s (UNC Ashville) 24 steals would be a team high and finished 5^th most in the league.

The Rox will enter the playoffs with one of the best hitting offenses in the league. The St. Cloud offense scored 394 runs, recorded 660 hits and accumulated 351 RBIs, all ranking top ten in the league.

A strong Rox pitching rotation would be anchored by St. Cloud native Reese Gregory (St. Cloud State). Gregory would finish with a record of 6-3 while striking out a team high 66 batters and recording an ERA of 1.46. In 67.2 innings pitched, Gregory finished with the league lead in ERA and had the second most strikeouts. Lucas Gilbreath (University of Minnesota) had a record of 5-0 with 51 strikeouts and a 2.21 ERA. Another key to the Rox rotation was Zach Pop (University of Kentucky) who had a record of 5-1 to go along with 40 strikeouts and a 2.55 ERA. Domenick Carlini (Southeastern Louisiana University) finished the regular season with a record of 5-2. The lefty pitched 57.0 innings where he struck out 44 batters and had an ERA of 2.68. Sheldon Miks (St. Cloud State) had a 5-1 record with 42 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.73.

The St. Cloud bullpen was one of the best in the league in 2015 led by closer and team MVP, Trevor Charpie (University of Nevada, Reno). Charpie racked up 11 saves during the 2015 regular season while having a record of 3-1 with 42 strikeouts and a team low 0.67 ERA. Charpie’s 11 saves were tied for fourth most in the league. Brain Glowicki (University of Minnesota) threw 37.0 innings of relief with a record of 5-0 to go with 28 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.94. Erik Martinez (Cal-Berkeley) continued the low ERAs in the bullpen with a 1.82 ERA along with a record of 1-1 and 35 strikeouts. Brett DeGagne (University of North Dakota) had a record of 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 39 strikeouts.

The Rox pitching staff has given up the least earned runs in the league this season while ranking in the top five in strikeouts. Opponents have a batting average of .233 versus the Rox while the staff’s 3.19 ERA is the lowest in the league.

The St. Cloud defense finished the regular season with a .939 fielding percentage, second best in the league. The Rox also finished with the third fewest errors in the league.

St. Cloud will take on the Rochester Honkers at 7:05 p.m. tonight at the Rock Pile in St. Cloud. Gates will open at 6:05 p.m. for the team’s first ever playoff game.

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 (KC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com.