Thunder Bay, Canada – The St. Cloud Rox outscored Thunder Bay from the third inning until the end but fell 8-5. Carlo Graffeo (Minnesota State-Mankato) pitched four innings in relief and allowed one run.

The Rox jumped out to a quick, 1-0 lead after the away half of the first inning. Ryan Weisenberg (Georgetown) had the RBI. However, the Border Cats would score a total of seven runs in the first two innings.

St. Cloud would then outscore Thunder Bay from the third inning on, five to one. They pushed across their second run of the game in the top of the third inning and cut the deficit to five. Ryland Kerr (Eastern Kentucky) hit a sac-fly to center field and scored Ben Carew (Kent State).

After a few scoreless innings, the Rox got two runs in the top of the seventh to put them within him three runs. Ricardo Sanchez (Arkansas at Pine Bluff) scored on a wild pitch and Carew singled to score Connor Aube (UT-Arlington). Thunder Bay responded the next half inning with their first run since the second inning, making the score 8-4.

Making it two consecutive scoring innings offensively, St. Cloud got their final run in the game in the 8th inning on a wild pitch that score Zach Sehgal (Stanford).

Kyle Richardson (Texas A&M) started the game and was relieved by Sergio Esparza (Arkansas at Pine-Bluff). Hance Smith (UC-Berkeley) pitched the third inning before Graffeo tossed four stellar innings. Landon Clifton (LSU Eunice) pitched the 8th inning.

St. Cloud will close the series tomorrow with a 1:35 ET first pitch against the Border Cats.

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.