ST. CLOUD ROX vs. MINOT HOT TOTS

June 20 & 21 

Joe Faber Field (St. Cloud, Minnesota) 

 

Saturday, June 20 – 7:05 p.m. 

Pitching: RHP Hunter Poe (3-0, 3.42 ERA) vs. RHP Christian Henderson (0-0, 6.39 ERA)

Watch: FloSports 

Listen: 93.9FM/1390 AM Granite City Sports Radio 

Promotion: Post-Game Fireworks 

Promotion: Rally Towel Giveaway (1st 1500 fans) 

Promotion: First 75 active Military Members or Veterans with valid ID or Military discharge papers who purchase a ticket to the game will receive a Rox hat. (Advance ticket purchase only, not day of game). Presented by the Vein Center 

 

Sunday, June 21 – 4:05 p.m. 

Pitching: LHP Ethan Felling (2-0, 0.54 ERA) vs. TBA 

Watch: FloSports 

Listen: 93.9FM/1390 AM Granite City Sports Radio 

Promotion: Coborn’s Kids Day. Kids Have the Opportunity to Run Around the Bases After the Game and get Autographs on the Field. 

Promotion: Father’s Day Celebration. Special Father’s Day ticket package: 2 tickets and receive a hat for Dad, all for $32. Pre-Game Catch on The Field with Dad from 3:05 to 3:30. Click here to purchase ticket package. 

 

Follow the Game  

• Follow along to every Northwoods League game on the NWL scoreboard, and get up to the minute information with the Play-by-Play feature.  

• All matchups, home and away, can be streamed on FloSports with a subscription.  

• Every game of the 2026 season can be heard on 93.9FM and 1390AM Granite City Sports Radio, and on the Granite City Sports website. Dylan Budd, Danny Berg, and Riley Klaus call every game from the Eide Chrysler St. Cloud Studios. 

 

St. Cloud vs. Minot 

• Saturday will mark the 39th meeting between the Rox and the Hot Tots, one of the newest teams in the Northwoods League. 

• The Rox and Hot Tots played in a six-game series earlier this month, with St. Cloud winning three of four at Corbett Field, and a two-game series split at Joe Faber Field. 

• St. Cloud has won 32 of the 38 previous matchups, including posting 11-1 records each of the last two seasons. 

• The Rox have won 16 of 18 games in St. Cloud in the series history. 

 

Recounting Bismarck 

The Rox recently completed a four-game series against the Bismarck Larks, playing the games in a span of three calendar days. The Rox and the Larks have now played eight of their 12 scheduled games this year, with the remaining four all taking place at Joe Faber Field. 

Wednesday saw Brady Ferguson make his first start for the Rox, and delivered four scoreless innings while the offense backed him up with three runs. Tyler Holland swatted a long home run in the second, Alex Dupuy got an RBI groundout, and Cole Decker scored on an error in that period. The Larks put three on the board to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth and the game remained scoreless until the 10th inning when Decker scored on a fielder’s choice after a steal to open the inning to take a 4-3 win. The Rox handed Adam Trevino the baseball in a high-leverage spot in the 7th inning, and he finished the game and earned Northwoods League Pitcher of the Night honors. Trevino dealt 3.1 innings and struck out five, not allowing a hit or a run. 

Thursday morning also saw a 4-3 result, but in the wrong direction. The Rox got out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a Jackson Legg single, and then tacked on another after Aidan Mouton scored on an error. The Larks got two in the bottom of the fourth after a solid start from Eli Lamb, and then zeroes were put on the scoreboard until the bottom of the seventh when two RBI singles put Bismarck ahead for good. 

Thursday evening was a masterclass of pitching, a 1-0 result in favor of Bismarck. Tyler Phenow delivered one of the strongest Rox starts of the season, going seven innings plus and allowing the lone run while striking out five and walking just one. He averaged about 14 pitches per inning through his outing. Caden Tarango came in with some traffic after Phenow’s departure and got a key pickoff and a strikeout to keep the score where it was at 1-0. On the offensive side, Tyler Holland finished with two hits and a walk. 

The energy changed for Friday‘s contest, with another deadlock throughout the contest. The Rox broke through a 16-inning scoreless streak with a 2-RBI single from Aidan Mouton, and Garrett Shull came through with the third run of the game off a Mouton sac fly. Brock Toney fired a season-high five innings on just one run, surrendering two hits on five strikeouts. St. Cloud put two more across the board in the ninth, as Colton Rother forced in a run on a hit by pitch and Jackson Legg got one home on a fielder’s choice. The quartet of Caden Tarango, K.J. Hart, Adam Trevino, and Brandon Jaenke slammed the door on the Larks, finishing the final four innings (one apiece) and didn’t surrender a hit, propelling the Rox to a 5-1 victory and a series split. 

 

Poe Seeks to Steer the Ship 

After a bumpy first two starts, staff veteran Hunter Poe has righted his course over his last two showings. The Texan righty has a combined 13 innings, allowing just one run on two walks and has struck out seven. Despite a shorter start last time out, Poe delivered five scoreless frames en route to a slugfest win for the Rox. 

Poe will make just his second home start Saturday when he takes the ball. He has a 3.42 ERA for the season in 23.2 innings of work, striking out 13 while walking only six.  

 

Felling Thriving in New Role 

Once considered a high-leverage lefty out of the bullpen, Ethan Felling has stabilized himself in the starting rotation, now having made two starts this season. He has gone four innings in each of his last two starts, allowing a combined five hits and no runs, striking out seven in the process. His most recent start at Willmar was his most successful, punching out six Stingers. 

Prior to his move to the rotation, Felling was used as a multi-inning reliever in three of his five appearances and was scoreless in four of the five. His strikeout numbers have continued to climb the team ranks, sitting in second in K/9 (11.88) among pitchers with 10 or more innings pitches, just behind Brady Ferguson (12.15) 

 

Decker Makes History 

The on-base percentage of outfielder Cole Decker continues to rise, and he did it on June 19 in a dramatic way without recording an at-bat. 

Against the Bismarck Larks, Decker recorded five walks against Lark pitchers. He took three walks against the starter A.J. Minyard and two against the final Bismarck pitcher, Seth Dreeszen. Before this game, the most walks Decker had in a Northwoods League game was three on Opening Day at Bismarck, and in his final game this spring with Indiana, drew three walks against Illinois on May 16. 

The record was previously four in a game, most recently reached by Francisco Barbieri on July 10, 2024, ironically enough, against the Bismarck Larks. 

On the season, Decker has an on-base percentage of .450 and 19 walks to go along with his 15 hits and 2 hit by pitches. He has the third-highest OBP of players on the Rox (min. 30 ABs), and the second most walks on the squad trailing only Nolan Geislinger (23). 

“I’ve always been more of a patient hitter,” Decker told Nathan Arbaugh of the Northwoods League postgame. “I want to be disciplined, get on base, and use my speed.” 

In addition to his record-breaking day, Decker picked up three stolen bases (single-game high) to improve to 12 swipes on the season, good for third place on the team. 

 

Recchio Nearing the Mountaintop 

One of the fastest men the Northwoods League has seen in its history, Tanner Recchio is inching closer to rewriting the record books. 

The Rox utility man has 88 career stolen bases entering Saturday’s games, including swiping 19 bags on the 2026 campaign. Recchio stole 34 bases apiece in 2023 with the Minnesota Mud Puppies and in 2025 with St. Cloud. 

He needs only two more to tie an 18-year record held by Joey Bonadonna, who stole 90 bases for the Duluth Huskies and the Madison Mallards from 2005-2008. Bonadonna played three seasons in Minor League Baseball, getting 600 at-bats and took 42 bases. 

Should Recchio break Bonadonna’s mark, he would become the third St. Cloud player to be in the Northwoods League record book. Chris DeMara recorded four shutouts in 2001, and Britt Carmicheal pitched 80 games from 1997 to 1999. 

Recchio is aiming to break his own Rox single-season record that he set last year (34). He is on pace to shatter that mark, currently projecting to finish with 51 stolen bags.

 

Rox against the Northwoods League 

Entering play Saturday, St. Cloud is tied for the third-best record in the Northwoods League at 16-10, sporting the same record as the Kalamazoo Growlers. The Wausau Woodchucks carry the best mark among all 26 teams at 14-7, and the La Crosse Loggers sits second at 16-9. Excluding the Minnesota Mud Puppies, there are only four teams left in the Northwoods League with 9 or less losses (Wausau, La Crosse, Green Bay, Madison) 

Amongst their NWL peers, the Rox are pacing the charts in a number of categories. 

• 3rd in runs scored (178) 

• 3rd in hits (219) 

• 4th in RBI (147) 

• 2nd in walks (169) 

• 4th in hit by pitches (45) 

• 1st in sacrifice flies (18) 

• T-3rd in sacrifice hits (9) 

• 3rd in stolen bases (84) 

• 5th in on-base percentage (.394) 

The Rox are also third in the league in strikeouts by pitchers (250) and have given up only 11 home runs, tied for third best with La Crosse and Lakeshore. 

 

St. Cloud = Road Warriors 

The Rox have faced an already grueling travel schedule, but are now going to get a chance to sleep in their own beds for a while. 

Entering Saturday’s games, the Rox are tied with the Lakeshore Chinooks for the least amount of home games at nine. St. Cloud has played the most road contests amongst the entire Northwoods League at 17 to this point. 

The uneven scale will begin to reach equilibrium over the next two weeks, with the Rox embarking on a six-game homestand beginning June 20, and 10 of their final 16 games prior to the All-Star Break will be played at Joe Faber Field. St. Cloud will leave the state of Minnesota only one more time prior to the break, playing a quick two-game series in Dickinson on June 30 and July 1. The Rox have already made trips to all three North Dakota NWL cities (Bismarck twice) and Thunder Bay, Ontario, in the first 26 games of the season.

After the All-Star Break, the Rox will only make two trips out of Minnesota for the rest of the regular season. They will make a four-day trip to North Dakota from July 16 to 19, and a two-day trip to La Crosse, Wisconsin, on July 30 and 31.

 

About Faber Field  

Joe Faber Field is located on the westside of St. Cloud in the city’s Municipal Athletic Complex.  The complex features two of the finest baseball fields in the state – Dick Putz Field and Joe Faber Field. Additionally, the complex features Veterans Public Golf Course and two ice arenas, Torrey Arena and Ritsche Arena. The park opened in 1998 and has a capacity of 2,000 people.   

  

Attend a Rox Game 

Fans can visit stcloudrox.com and hover over the drop-down “Tickets” menu on the homepage. Fans can also call 320-240-9798 for ticket information, or can visit the ticket office inside the Municipal Athletic Complex’s ice arena lobby during regular business hours. 

 

Up Next  

The Rox continue their homestand against the Badlands Big Sticks, playing four games beginning on Monday and lasting until Thursday. All four games will begin at 6:35 p.m. 

Following the Big Sticks series, the Rox will travel to Mankato for two games (June 26 & 27) and rematch with the Bismarck Larks in St. Cloud (June 28 & 29)