Mankato, MN– St. Cloud (36-21) fought back from an early six run deficit, but fell just short to Mankato (28-31) by a score of 8-7 in game one of Monday’s doubleheader. The Rox have won 13 of their last 16 games. 

Trailing 3-0 in the second inning, Parker Smejkal (Nebraska-Omaha) hit an RBI-triple to right field that scored Jack Kelly (Minnesota) from second base. 

Down 7-1 in the fifth inning, the Rox began to cut away at the deficit. Ben Carew (Kent State) hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot over the left field wall.

In the sixth inning, Jordan Barth (Augustana) led off with a solo home run to left field. Smejkal would later score Garett Delano (Brown) on a sac-fly to left field. Zack Elliott (Minnesota) blooped a single into right field and scored Kelly.

The Rox would get within one run in the seventh inning. Hance Smith (California-Berkeley) drilled a leadoff double to right field. Barth later scored him on a groundout to make the score 8-7. 

Rhyse Dee (Wake Forest) started the game and tossed five innings. Drew Garrett (Johnson County CC), Trae Robertson (Missouri) and Joey Stock (St. John’s) each threw an inning out of the bullpen.

For the full box score from game one of the doubleheader on Monday, click here.

The Rox play the MoonDogs for game two of the doubleheader at 6:35 pm on Monday.

St. Cloud is home on Tuesday, July 29th against the Waterloo Bucks at 7:05 p.m. It’s Rox Throwback Youth Jersey Giveaway Night presented by Coborn’s to the first 300 fans 14 and under.

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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