Honkers Complete Series Sweep of Duluth
Northwoods Rochester Honkers

Honkers Complete Series Sweep of Duluth

Published on July 17, 2026 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Rochester Honkers News Release


ROCHESTER, Minn. - Behind another dominant pitching performance and an early offensive outburst, the Rochester Honkers completed a two-game series sweep of the Duluth Huskies with a 9-6 victory Thursday night at Mayo Field.

Starter Cooper Annin made his eighth start of the season and set the tone from the opening inning. Despite issuing a pair of walks in the first, the left-hander escaped the early jam thanks to a groundout, a caught stealing by catcher Nick Bowron on Maddox Monsour, and a pop out.

The Honkers' offense was quiet through the first two innings before breaking through in the bottom of the third.

The rally began at the bottom of the lineup as Tim Ford drew a leadoff walk to turn the order over. A hit-by-pitch followed before Jackson Glueck reached on an error, allowing two runs to score. With Glueck still aboard, Robert Orr stepped to the plate and delivered the big swing of the inning, launching a three-run home run to deep left field to give Rochester a commanding 5-0 lead.

Orr credited an aggressive approach for the early offensive spark.

"I was just trying to let him come to me. Got the 3-0 green light from Fernie and put a good swing on it. Stayed true to the ball, and the rest went pretty far. So that's all I can say."

The Honkers continued to add on in the middle innings. Cooper Kruk crushed a home run to the deepest part of the ballpark, hitting the batter's eye in center field to extend the lead to 7-0. Rochester added two more runs in the fifth to take a 9-0 advantage into the sixth inning.

Annin turned in one of his strongest outings of the summer, eclipsing the 100-pitch mark before handing the ball over to Gavin Simirdiak out of the bullpen.

Manager Fernando Loera praised Annin's ability to finish hitters throughout the night.

"I think just for him, it was about finishing batters off and being able to close out each inning," Loera said.

Duluth finally broke through after Annin exited. Andrew Ermis doubled home a pair of runs before a sacrifice fly trimmed Rochester's lead to 9-3.

The Huskies continued to battle late, scoring three more runs, but Jake Ferguson and Brandon Fears combined to record the final outs and secure the victory.

Despite the late push from Marcus Pointer's club, Rochester held on to complete the series sweep.

With the win, the Honkers improve to 10-3 in the second half and remain in first place in the Great Plains East Division.

Rochester returns to Mayo Field on Friday to begin a pivotal series against the Eau Claire Express, who enter the matchup just a half-game behind the Honkers in the division standings.

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Northwoods League Stories from July 17, 2026


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