Two Rochester Honkers belted their first home runs of the season and the team won the second of two high-scoring Northwoods League summer college baseball games with Willmar over the weekend.
Alex Schultz (Nebraska Omaha) homered and scored four runs, and John Schuknect (Cal Poly) homered and drove in four runs to power Rochester in an 11-8 win over the Stingers Sunday evening before a good crowd of 1,307 at Bill Taunton Stadium.
Rochester (19-14) prevented Willmar (21-8) from clinching the North Division first half title. The Stingers have a half-game lead over the Waterloo Bucks (23-11) going into the final day of the first half of the season which ends today. The league has an off-day on Tuesday and the second half begins Wednesday.
Rochester had to come from behind after Willmar jumped to an 8-1 lead with seven runs in the third. The Honkers finished with more than twice as many hits, 16 to 7.
Six players had multiple hits for Rochester including Schuknect who finished 3-for-5 and Connor Schaefbauer (Minnesota) who was 3-or-5 with three runs scored. Schaefbauer also had three hits on Saturday and has raised his batting average to .278 after a rough start.
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Willmar scored seven runs in the third on just four hits, four walks and a hit batter.
SATURDAY: The Honkers fell 10-9 in the first game of the two-game series. The Stingers scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh when Brian Pruett (Florida Gulf Coast) singled, eventually stole third base and scored on a throwing error committed by Honkers catcher Travis Hull (Chabot College).
Honkers starting pitcher Logan Spitzack (St. Cloud State) surrendered four runs in the first inning and allowed eight hits and five earned runs in three innings. Spitzack, a former Triton High School standout, did not get a decision but his ERA grew from 1.66 to 3.00.
A crowd of 1,194 at Bill Taunton Stadium saw the two teams combined for 32 hits and 24 stranded base runners. Max Ayoub (Nebraska Kearney) went 4-for-5 with his fourth homer and three RBIs for Willmar. For Rochester, Alex Schultz was 3-for-3 with two runs, and Connor Schaefbauer went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs.
NEXT:The Honkers cap the first half of the regular season today with a home-and-away doubleheader against the Waterloo Bucks. The first game is at 1:05 p.m. at Mayo Field, and the second game is at 6:35 p.m. in Waterloo. The Honkers open the second half at home Wednesday night against Duluth.
Stingers 10, Honkers 9
(Saturday)
Rochester #010#305#000#—#9#14#3
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Willmar #403#002#10x#—#10#18#3
Rochester Honkers:Hassel 0-for-5; Brewster 1-for-4, 1 R; Campbell 1-for-6; Fletcher 2-for-5, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI; Schultz 3-for-3, 2 R; Schaefbauer 3-for-4, 1 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI; Lezynski 2-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI; Hull 1-for-3; Ry. Roper 0-for-2, 1 R, 1 RBI; Re. Roper 1-for-1. LP : Conquy (0-1) 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K; Spitzack (starter) 3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K; Bower 3 IP 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K.
Willmar Stingers:Pruett 2-for-6, 1 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI; Ross 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R; Fowler 2-for-4, 1 RBI; Rivera 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI; Hughston 2-for-5, 2 R; Ayoub 4-for-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI; Rios 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI; Dutto 3-for-5, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI; Beesley 2-for-4, 1 R. WP : Lydon (1-1) 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K; Towns (starter) 5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K; Gullo 2/3 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 0 K; Matheson (S,2) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K.
Time— 2:55. Attendance— 1,194.
Honkers 11, Stingers 8
(Sunday)
Rochester #001#143#020#—#11#16#2
Willmar #107#000#000#—#8#7#2
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Rochester Honkers:Schultz 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 R, 1 RBI; Brewser 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI; Schaefbauer 3-for-5, 3 R, 1 RBI; Schuknect 3-or-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI; Re. Roper 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI; Hassel 2-for-4; Smith 2-for-3, 2 RBI; Goihl 1-for-5; Ry. Roper 0-for-5. WP : Stennis (2-1) 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Holbert (starter) 2 1/3 IP, 4 H, 8 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 1 K; Weinstein 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Campbell (S,2) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K.
Willmar Stingers:Moyer 1-for-4, 2 R; Ross 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI; Hughston 2-for-3, 1 R, 3 RBI; Ayoub 0-for-5; Barbier 0-for-2, 1 R; Dutto 0-for-3, 1 R; Motl 1-for-3, 1 R; Kuhn 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI; Webb 0-for-3, 1 R. LP : Puckett (0-1) 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K; Whidby (starter) 4 2/3 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; Claunch 2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
Time— 3:00. Attendance— 1,307.
