St. Cloud, MN – The St. Cloud Rox came up short on Friday night in their home opener presented by Coborn’s at Joe Faber Field in front of a sellout crowd.

The Rox dropped their first game at home 7-2 against the Mankato MoonDogs in front of an announced attendance of 2,205.

Friday’s game started off with a pitchers’ duel, highlighted by a nice outing from Rox pitcher Kyle Boser (St. Cloud State), who made his first start of the season on the mound for St. Cloud. Boser, a Little Falls native, pitched five shutout innings, earning a no-decision. He gave up three hits and struck out six.

Mankato got on the board in the sixth inning with two runs, before adding five more runs in the top of the eighth inning.

St. Cloud tried to get its way back into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring two runs. Ryan Lillard (Arizona State) kicked off the scoring for the Rox, doubling home Ryan Davis (Georgetown) with no outs. Ryland Kerr (Eastern Kentucky) built off of that, scoring Ricardo Sanchez (Arkansas at Pine Bluff) with one out in the inning.

St. Cloud was led Sanchez and Davis, who each went 2-for-4. Gus Steiger (South Dakota State) also added two hits for the Rox, finishing 2-for-5.

The Rox (1-3 overall) are back in action on Saturday night at Joe Faber Field, opening up a two-game homestand against the Bismarck Larks at the Rock Pile. Saturday’s game will be Baseball Bat Giveaway Night presented by CentraCare Neurosciences Strokes Center, where the first 300 fans will 14 and under will receive a youth baseball bat.

The Rox are in their seventh season of Northwoods League Baseball in 2018. Single game and group tickets for the entire season are on sale now. For more information on purchasing tickets, visit the Rox Ticket Office on the west end of the Municipal Athletic Complex, call 320-240-9798 or visit www.stcloudrox.com.

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR).  All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.