St. Cloud, MN – Landon Stephens (Miami-Ohio) drilled his first home run of the season and helped St. Cloud (18-11) sweep Thunder Bay (11-18) by a final score of 9-3 on Wednesday. The Rox have won six consecutive games and 10 of their last 11.

The Rox quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead following a Garrett Delano (Brown) RBI-single that was hit into right field and scored Brady Harlan (Oklahoma) from second base in the first inning.

The fourth inning marked what was the beginning of five consecutive scoring innings for St. Cloud. Stephens was able to score from second base on a throwing error from Thunder Bay in the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Stephens blasted a two-run home run over the left field wall and extended the lead to 4-1. 

Brett Bonar (Nebraska-Omaha) was able to tack on another run via a balk in the bottom of the sixth inning.

He was back at it in the bottom of the seventh inning, hitting a two-run single up the middle and scoring Hance Smith (California-Berkeley) and Cam Kline (Minnesota State-Mankato).

The final runs of the game were scored by the Rox in the eighth inning as Delano singled and scored Gus Steiger (South Dakota State). Stephens later doubled and scored Jordan Barth (Augustana).

Justin Simanek (Southeastern Louisiana) earned the win for the Rox, throwing five innings and striking out four batters. Lucas Gather (California-Berkeley), Max Rippl (Kent State), Pedro Garcia (Georgia Gwinnett College) and Justin Wick (Creighton) all saw time out of the bullpen.

For the full box score from Wednesday’s game, click here.

St. Cloud will be back at home on Thursday against the Waterloo Bucks with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. It’s Military Appreciation Night, presented by Advantage One Insurance Agency. The Rox will be wearing special jerseys and auctioning them off online with the proceeds benefiting Central Minnesota Veterans through St. Cloud Stand Down. 

All single games tickets can be purchased now in person at the Rox Ticket Office located at the Municipal Athletic Complex, by calling the Rox Ticket office at 320-240-9798 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday or 24 hours a day by visiting www.stcloudrox.com.

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 200 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 (MIA).  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.

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