St. Cloud, MN – St. Cloud (13-10) won their third game in a row and beat Willmar (16-9) by a score of 7-5 in the series opener at the Rock Pile.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning, the Rox quickly tied the game. Ben Norman (Iowa) led off with a double and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. In the next at-bat, Tyler Finke (Southeastern Louisiana) scored Norman on a sac-fly to center field. It tied the game at one.

In the third inning, St. Cloud exploded for five runs at the plate. Following a one-out single from Finke, Jack Kelly (Minnesota) drove him in on a base hit to left field. Two at-bats later, Garett Delano (Mercer) crushed a double to right field that scored Kelly. 

With two-outs in the inning, Nate Rombach (Texas Tech) stepped up with two runners on base. He proceeded to blast a three-run home run to left field and put the Rox in front 6-2. He earned Northwoods League Player of the Night following his 3-4 performance at the plate.

St. Cloud continued to lead into the eighth inning, but only by one run. Rombach led off with a base hit and was moved to second base following an Andrew Pintar (BYU) sac-bunt. Kodie Kolden (Washington State) then hit a single up the middle and scored Rombach to extend the lead to 7-5.

Trevor Koenig (St. Cloud State) started the game and tossed three innings. Brandon White (Washington State) earned his second win of the season after striking out four batters over 2.2 innings pitched. Joey Stock (Wisconsin-Milwaukee) also saw time on the mound for the Rox.

Kevin Davis (USC-Upstate) pitched the seventh and eighth innings. He struck out four batters and did not allow a run. Blake Stelzer (Concordia-St. Paul) collected his fifth save of the season and second in 24 hours after hurling the ninth inning.

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

St. Cloud will look to sweep Willmar on Saturday at Joe Faber Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 pm.

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.