Beetles lose to Rox

August 1, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


St. Cloud, MN - Trailing 4-1 heading into the top of the ninth, the Alexandria Beetles sent eight men to the plate against St. Cloud Rox closer Adam Maxon, scoring three runs to tie the game.

But the Rox (22-37, 13-13) responded in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of hits against Anthony Bazzani to walk off winners 5-4 on Wednesday as the Beetles (26-23, 13-12) dropped three games out of first place with 10 to play in the second half.

Alexandria scored first on a Ben Moore triple in the third inning that scored Tanner Vavra, Moore's 70th RBI of the season, only for the Rox to answer back with one in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.

Beetles starter Steve Weber and Rox starter Zach Hirsch were dominant through the first five with St. Cloud finally breaking through with a single run in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead as a two-out double by Elvin Soto scored Boo Vasquez, who had hit a one-out double, from second.

After the Beetles stranded a runner at third with one out in the top of the seventh, the Rox added to their lead with an infield single from Phil Imholte to end Weber's evening and a two-out single from Carlos Lopez off reliever Alex Guilford to double the advantage 3-1.

In the eighth, the Rox again tacked on a single run with three singles from Vazquez, Nick Tanielu, and Soto to lead off the inning.

But down 4-1, the Beetles roared to life against Maxon with the help of the closer's wildness on the hill. He walked John Loeffler to lead off the inning and after a one-ut Josh Carpenter single, hit Matt Lowenstein on the arm to load the bases.

Tanner Vavra followed with an RBI single to right and Ben Moore picked up another RBI on a squibbing ball on the infield, beating the relay to the pitcher covering first. With the bases still loaded and two outs down by one, Mike Morman, in his Alexandria Beetle debut, drew a walk with ball four going to the backstop. Matt Lowenstein came in to score the tying run and Vavra never stopped running, trying to csore from second only to be thrown out at the plate to end the inning with the score 4-4.

And against Anthony Bazzani, after Lopez struck out to lead off the inning, a walk to Mark Rhine, single from Vazquez, and single from Nick Tanielu, his fourth hit of the game after missing 10 days with an ankle injury, brought in the game-winning run in walk-off fashion.

The Beetles have Thursday off before returning to the field on Friday in the first game of a three game set with the Mankato MoonDogs. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 CDT at Knute Nelson.



Northwoods League Stories from August 1, 2012


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