Beetles outlast Rox

July 31, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Alexandria, MN - In an old-fashioned Knute Nelson shootout, the Alexandria Beetles (13-11, 26-33) returned to the win column by outlasting the St. Cloud Rox (21-37, 12-13) by a 12-9 final in the middle game of a three game set.

With the win, the Beetles equaled their first-half win total with 11 games still remaining. Alexandria remains two games behind first place Willmar and .5 game behind Duluth for second.

Ben Moore's 13th homerun of the season, pulled to the deepest part of the ballpark in left-center, opened the Beetles' account in the first inning. The homerun tied Moore for the Northwoods League lead and was the opening act of a record-breaking night for Moore. With the blast, Moore now holds sole possession of the Alexandria Beetles record for homeruns in a single season passing World Series-champion Allen Craig who hit 12 in 2005.

But the Rox manufactured a single run in the top of the second to tie the game at one before the Beetles retook the lead with a big third inning. The Beetles sent nine men to the plate with Josh Guerra lining his second homerun of the year to right-center and Ryan Padilla capping the inning with a three-run blast well beyond the right-field wall to extend the Beetle lead to 5-1.

The back-and-forth affair turned in favor of the Rox in the fourth against starter Mitchell Babb who had dominated through three. St. Cloud brought 10 men to the plate in the fourth with Erik Kozel drilling a game-tying grand-slam following three walks and a fielding error and wild pitch from reliever Brandon Johnson bringing in the final two runs as the Rox took their first lead of the ballgame at 8-5.

On Tuesday, a three-run deficit was trivial for the best offense in the Northwoods League as the Beetles immediately responded with four runs in bottom of the inning to retake the lead 9-8. An RBI double from Matt Lowenstein cut the deficit to 8-6 and after a Tanner Vavra line-out, Moore picked up his second RBI of the game, and 68th of the season to tie the Northwoods League single-season record set by Jay Gibbons in 1997, on a single into right. After Matt Beaty lined his third hit of the evening into right, Padilla drove in another run with a double to chase St. Cloud starter Jimmy Jensen. The final run of the inning scored on a bases-loaded single by new Beetle John Loeffler for his first Alexandria hit.

The Beetles still were not done as an inning later, a throwing error scored two runs and sent Tanner Vavra to third with no outs. Moore, who was named Northwoods League Player of the Night for the second time this year, delivered with an RBI single to the right side for his 69th RBI of the year to break the 15-year record and make the score 12-8.

A solo-shot from Rox first-baseman Carlos Lopez to lead off the seventh capped the scoring as Beetles closer Anthony Bazzani pitched the ninth for his 13th save of the season.

The teams conclude their three-game set with a 7:05 CDT start in St. Cloud on Wednesday.



Northwoods League Stories from July 31, 2012


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