St. Cloud, MN – Sam Ireland (Minnesota) blasted a three-run home run and hit two doubles as St. Cloud (7-7) beat Rochester (4-8) by a score of 9-4 on Sunday.

Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Logan Thomason (Eastern Kentucky) drove in Nick Marinconz (Cal Poly) to cut the Honkers lead to 2-1.

The Rox claimed their first lead of the game in the fourth inning. Jordan Barth (Augustana) and Jack Kelly (Minnesota) reached base on consecutive errors to lead off the inning. Ireland then crushed a three-run home run to right field. It put St. Cloud in the lead 4-2.

With the game tied 4-4 in the seventh inning, the Rox proceeded to score four runs. Ireland led off the inning with a double and Nate Rombach (Texas Tech) followed with a single. Kodie Kolden (Washington State) successfully executed a squeeze bunt that scored Ireland. Thomason later walked in a run and Jack Kelly (Minnesota) scored Marinconz on a sac-fly.

St. Cloud added another run in the eighth inning as Ireland was able to score on an error to extend the lead to 9-4.

Nick DeSalvo (LIU-Brooklyn) started the game and pitched 1.2 innings. Trent Schoeberl (Minnesota) hurled the following three innings. Josh Gainer (LIU-Brooklyn) pitched 1.1 innings and struck out three batters. Joey Stock (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) struck out two batters in the seventh inning and earned the win. Blake Stelzer (Concordia-St. Paul) threw the final two innings.

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

The Rox will travel to Riverfront Stadium on Monday to begin a two-game road series against the Waterloo Bucks (9-6). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm on both days.

If you would like more information on tickets for the 2020 season, or more information regarding this press release,  please contact the Rox front office at 320-240-9798 or visit stcloudrox.com.

The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its 26th season, the Northwoods 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 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Star Jordan Zimmermann (DET). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. 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.