ST. CLOUD -- The Roch-ester Honkers lost their third game in a row, bowing to the St. Cloud River Bats 5-0 Wednesday in the second game of a two-game series.
The Honkers lost Sunday to Madison, were off Monday and lost 9-1 to the River Bats on Tuesday.
St. Cloud earned the win by beating the Honkers' Connor Falkenbach, the Northwoods League leader in innings pitchef, earned run average and strikeouts. Falkenbach was 5-1 with a 1.16 ERA entering the game, but St. Cloud touched him for single runs -- all earned -- in the third, fourth and seventh innings.
Meanwhile, the River Bats' Jason King (North Dakota) held the Honkers scoreless on four hits over seven innings, then got relief help the last two innings to preserve the shutout.
No Honker had more than one hit. Andre Ethier and Jesse Boyer doubled for Rochester, which is 8-11 in the second half after winning the league's South Division first-half title.
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The game was attended by a sellout crowd of 2,001.
ROCHESTER (0) st.; cloud (5)
ab r h bi ab r h bi
; Boyer lf 4 0 1 0 Pietro; cf 5 1 2 1
; Corsaletti dh 4 0 1 0 Gaetti; rf 5 1 1 0
; Ethier rf 4 0 1 0 Long; 3b 4 0 1 0
; Thomas 3b 4 0 1 0 Kinsey; 1b 3 0 2 2
; Miller cf 3 0 0 0 Jensen; 2b 2 0 0 0
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; Reed 1b 2 0 0 0 Olson; pr-2b 0 0 0 0
; Rafferty 2b 2 0 1 0 Jaramillo; dh 3 0 0 0
; Bocchi c 3 0 0 0 Mileusnic; ph 1 0 0 0
; Gardenhire ss 3 0 0 0 Smith; lf 3 1 1 0
; Denove; c 4 2 1 0
; Atkinson; ss 4 0 1 0
; Totals 29 0 5 0 Totals 34 5 9 3
; Rochester 000 000 000 -- 0 5 2
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; St. Cloud 001 100 12x -- 5 9 0
; E -- Rafferty, Gardenhire. DP -- St. Cloud 2. LOB -- Rochester 4, St. Cloud 10. SB -- Pietro, Long 2. CS -- Thomas.
IP H R ER BB SO
; Rochester
Falkenbach (L, 5-2) 62⁄3 8 3 3 3 9
; Bader 11⁄3 1 2 1 0 1
; St. Cloud
King (W, 3-1) 7 4 0 0 2 5
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; Kougl 1 0 0 0 0 0
; Sharfstein 1 1 0 0 0 1
; HB -- Falkenbach, Bader. WP -- Falkenbach, Bader.
Time: 2:26. Attendance: 2,001.
