Rochester Has Big First, But Falls to Eau Claire 4-3
Published on May 30, 2024 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Rochester Honkers News Release
Wednesday's loss against Eau Claire rang eerily similar to Tuesday for Honkers fans. Mattie Thomas homered. They generated traffic on the base paths but were unable to execute in clutch situations.
But perhaps the strangest parallel to the previous night's contest was the opposing pitching. Thunder Bay's starter, Andrew Hardin, went 5 innings, giving up three runs. That was the exact line for Eau Claire's Evan Esch. Both games saw only one reliever enter for a four-inning save.
In the first inning, Rochester mustered their only offense of the game, blasting back-to-back homers courtesy of Thomas and Ryan Tiger. Past that, they were held scoreless.
Defensively, the game got off to a rough start when Honkers shortstop Nico Defazio committed an error. Starter Daniel Zang tight roped his way out of the jam and ended up going 5.1 solid innings.
Defazio more than compensated for the mistake. In the bottom of the first, he looped a ball down the left field line and stretched it into a double. He later added two more hits to his line.
The Rochester bullpen was exceptional again, as Josiah Granados and Cam Cunnings combined for 3.2 scoreless frames.
Ultimately, the Honkers couldn't figure out Eau Claire reliever Drew Whalen. He shut down the Rochester bats and ultimately lifted the Express to a 4-3 victory.
The Honkers will hit the road and travel to Eau Claire tomorrow night, first pitch is scheduled for 6:35.
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