Honkers Ride Offensive Outburst to Series Split with La Crosse

July 3, 2021 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Rochester Honkers News Release

After struggling to score over their last few ballgames, the Rochester offense broke out in a big way, totaling six extra-base hits in a 9-3 win over La Crosse.  The Honkers hit a season-high three solo homers to earn the series split, with two coming off the bat of Mac Horvath. (North Carolina)

Rochester jumped out to a fast start, scoring four times in the game's first three innings. In the first, Mac Horvath came around to score on a Carson Stevens (Cal Poly) double and error, followed by a two-base error to bring Stevens home to score.

In the third, the Honkers padded the lead with a pair of solo homers. Mac Horvath led off with long homer to left followed by Cole Fontenelle's (Washington) first longball of the season.

Rochester added runs in the fifth and seventh innings on a second double by Carson Stevens and second homer by Mac Horvath. With his third and fourth homers of the year, Horvath became the first Honker with a multi-homer game this season.

After a Pancho Ruiz (San Diego St) double pulled the Loggers within two, Rochester put the game out of reach with three more runs in the bottom of the eighth. Alex Pimentel (Long Beach St) drove home Jason Swan (Georgia Southern) and Jack Collette (San Jose St) followed with a two-RBI single to plate JJ Cruz (Cal St Fullerton) and Pimentel.

The bottom of the Honker order produced in a big way in the ballgame, with Jason Swan (3-3, BB) and JJ Cruz (3-4) combining to reach base seven times with six hits.

Brendan Knoll (Minnesota St, Mankato) earned the victory on the mound, throwing five innings of one-run ball and striking out five. Michael Portela (Norfolk St) and Patrick Williams (Lipscomb) recorded the final 12 outs for Rochester to nail down the win.

The Honkers improve 14-16 with the win. They open a road series with Duluth tomorrow at 1:05.

Northwoods League Stories from July 3, 2021

• Stingers Drop Game 2 in Waterloo - Willmar Stingers
• Rosencranz Steals Home, MoonDogs Steal Win - Bismarck Larks
• Rafters Split Road Series with Dock Spiders - Wisconsin Rapids Rafters
• Berg's Seven Scoreless and Offensive Fireworks Power Growlers to Sweep - Kalamazoo Growlers
• First Sweep of Season Sets up Tie Atop Standings - Traverse City Pit Spitters
• Kingfish Fight Back Late and Sweep Traverse City - Kenosha Kingfish
• Honkers Ride Offensive Outburst to Series Split with La Crosse - Rochester Honkers
• Woodchucks Hang on to End Skid - Wausau Woodchucks
• Bombers Split Road Trip with Loss to Kokomo - Battle Creek Battle Jacks
• Booyah Come from Behind - Green Bay Rockers
• Mallards Comeback Falls Just Short as They Fall 6-5 - Madison Mallards
• Rox Dominate Huskies by Ten to Take Great Plains West Division - Duluth Huskies
• Rox Clinch First-Half Championship with Sweep over Huskies - St. Cloud Rox
• Mallards Look for Sweep, Fourth Straight Win against Woodchucks - Madison Mallards
• Booyah Look to Rebound at Home - Green Bay Rockers
• MoonDogs Return to Win Column with Offensive Outburst against the Larks - Mankato MoonDogs
• Huskies Continue to Show Scissors against the Rox - Duluth Huskies

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