Honkers Split Doubleheader Against St. Cloud

(Rochester, Minn.)— The Rochester Honkers defeated the St. Cloud Rox 11-2 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Spencer Greer (Dixie State) earned the win in just 1.1 innings pitched after starter Matt Walker (who had only appeared as a reliever to this point in the season) could not go the requisite five innings to be eligible for the win. Chris Farish (Wake Forest) was charged with the loss for St. Cloud after surrendering the Honkers first three runs.

St. Cloud took an early lead with a two-run homerun in the second, their fifth total homerun of the night after they hit four in the first game of the doubleheader.

The Honkers finally responded in the fourth inning when William Paschal (Georgia Gwinnett) brought in Ryan Webberley (Cal Poly Pomona) and Joe DeRoche-Duffin (UCONN) with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-all. Miles Mastrobuoni (College of San Mateo) followed that up with an RBI double that scored Slade Heggen (Oregon). Paschal advanced home on a St. Cloud error to give the Honkers a 4-2 lead.

The Rochester lead would lengthen by five in the fifth inning before the Rox could record an out, as Duffin would hit a RBI single to left field that scored Alex Schultz (Nebraska-Omaha) from third, Webberley would score his second run of the night on a RBI single from Mark Contreras (UC Riverside) and Duffin would score on Heggen’s single. Adam Walton (Illinois) would pick up a pair of RBIs as well to give the Honkers a 9-2 lead with two innings remaining.

Rochester would add a couple insurance runs in the sixth as Duffin picked up another RBI as he brought Schultz home with a single and Heggen would double off the left field wall to bring Webberley home for an 11-2 lead.

The Honkers fell to the St. Cloud Rox 10-2 in game one of the doubleheader. Tyler Feyereisen (St. Thomas) picked up the loss after giving up three runs in the first inning and being forced out after one inning of work due to NWL pitch count rules. Lucas Gilbreath (Minnesota) earned the win for St. Cloud.

The Rox scored three runs on a home run in the first, one of four home runs in the game given up by the Honkers pitchers. They followed that up with three runs in the fourth inning, two in the fifth, and three in the sixth for a 10-0 lead. Only one of the St. Clouds runs was not scored on a home run.

The Honkers finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of runs scored on 2 RBI single that brought in Scott Schreiber (Nebraska) and Ryan Summers (Louisville), but that wasn’t enough as they fell 10-2.

After the split, the Honkers sit at 7-4 and are a game-and-a-half back from the 9-3 Rox in the North Division for the second half, and are third in the overall division standing for the season behind St. Cloud and Willmar.