St. Cloud, MN – Jordan Barth (Augustana) drove in two runs as St. Cloud (19-11) took the first game of the series against Waterloo (17-14) by a final score of 5-3. The Rox have won 11 of their last 12 games, 7 in a row and are now in first place of the Great Plains West Division.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning, the Rox bats came alive. Brady Harlan (Oklahoma) doubled and scored Gus Steiger (South Dakota State) from second base. Barth hit a single in the following at-bat and scored Ben Carew (Kent State) to put the Rox down by one run.

The Rox would claim the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning following a Barth groundout to second base that scored Carew. Garrett Delano (Brown) would score Harlan in the next at-bat on a sac-fly to right field. St. Cloud led 4-3 after the inning and would not relinquish the lead.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Hance Smith (California-Berkeley) blasted a triple to right field and scored Delano to put the Rox ahead 5-3.

Carter Bosch (Georgetown) earned the win in 6.0 innings pitched. Rhyse Dee (Wake Forest) and Trae Robertson (Missouri) each hurled an inning out of the bullpen. Pedro Garcia (Georgia Gwinnett College) earned the save and has now struck out 11 of the 17 batters he has faced this season.

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

St. Cloud will be back at home on Friday against the Waterloo Bucks with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. It’s Friday Night Fireworks presented by Cornerstone Buffet and Restaurant.

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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