St. Cloud, MN – The 2017 Northwoods League Champions St. Cloud Rox concluded their two-game series with the Rochester Honkers on Wednesday night behind a strong pitching performance.

St. Cloud beat Rochester 1-0 at the Rock Pile, shutting down the Honkers while holding them to just three hits in the game.

Evan Johnson (Creighton) had an impressive start on the mound for St. Cloud to get the win, shutting Rochester down for the first 6.2 innings. Johnson, who improves to 3-0 on the season, gave up just three hits, no runs, two walks and struck out eight.

Erik Martinez (California-Berkeley) followed Johnson’s performance up by throwing 1.1 shutout innings, giving up no hits while striking out two. Finn Del Bonta-Smith (San Jose State) closed the door for the Rox, pitching the final inning to pick up his fifth save of the year.

At the plate, St. Cloud tallied the games lone run in the bottom of the first inning to jump out to the lead. Jack Barrie (Northwestern Ohio) brought home Landon Stephens (Miami-Ohio) with an RBI single to give the Rox enough to come away with the win.

Barrie finished 1-for-4 with one RBI and Ricardo Sanchez (Arkansas at Pine Bluff) finished 2-for-4 to lead the way for St. Cloud. Bobby Seymour (Wake Forest) and Ryland Kerr (Eastern Kentucky) each added a hit for the Rox.

St. Cloud (8-6 second half, 24-26 overall) will be back in action at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night at the Rock Pile. The game will be Championship Chisel Bobblehead Giveaway presented by Capital One, where the first 400 fans will receive a token to be redeemed for a bobblehead after the fifth inning. The Rox will wrap up their current four-game homestand at 7:05 p.m. Friday night, when there will be Friday Night Fireworks presented by Franklin Graphics and Franklin Outdoor Advertising.

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.

Stephens to Take Part in Home Run Derby

The Northwoods League announced Wednesday morning that Stephens will represent the Rox at the 2018 Home Run Derby in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Stephens, which is tied with Barrie for the most team home runs with six this season, will be one of nine participants in the North Division to take part in the derby, which will take place before the All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 24.

Stephens, Del Bonta-Smith and Jack Cushing (Georgetown) will all represent the Rox during the 2018 Northwoods League All-Star Game.

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.