July 24, 2021
St. Cloud, MN – The two best teams in the Northwoods League faced off Saturday night with St. Cloud (37-12) pulling away for a 6-2 win over Mankato (34-16)
With the win, the Rox extended their lead as the best team in the Northwoods League to three-and-a-half games over Mankato. For the full Northwoods League Standings, click here.
Justin Kirby (Kent State) led the way offensively after struggling for the last two weeks. Kirby had just one hit in his previous twelve games, but erupted for three hits today to jumpstart the offense from the bottom of the order.
At the top of the lineup, Brice Matthews (Nebraska) cleaned up with two hits and two RBI’s. After joining the Rox at the beginning of the second half of the season, Matthews has already worked his way to double-digit RBI’s with ten.
For the second night in a row, the bullpen stepped up in a huge way. Zach Gagnon (Tarleton State) took over after Trent Schoeberl (Minnesota) could only go four innings on the mound. Gagnon threw three scoreless frames to get the game into the late innings.
Josh Gainer (Long Island-Brooklyn) finished it off with two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Gainer has not allowed a single earned run this season in just under 17 innings pitched, while striking out 27 opposing batters.
For a full box score from Saturday’s game, click here.
St. Cloud will go for the sweep over Mankato and try to split the season series with the MoonDogs on Sunday afternoon in the series finale. First pitch from Joe Faber Field is scheduled for 4:05 pm.
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’ 27th 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 250 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 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 Gold Glove finalist and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TOR). 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 App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.
