Honkers win 3rd straight

( Rochester, MN )  For the second night in a row, Alex Schultz (Nebraska Omaha) played catalyst for the Honkers. Even though the lineup was full of fresh faces, the old ones still managed to generate the majority of the team’s runs. The Honkers earned their third consecutive win after beating the Eau Claire Express 7-1 at Mayo Field last night.

Newcomer Casey Fletcher (Illinois) led the bottom of the 2nd inning off with a walk in his first at-bat as a Honker. A 10-pitch at-bat by Jeff Campbell (North Dakota) ended with a double into the left field corner to score the game’s first run. The bases would eventually become loaded for leadoff man Schultz and he’d deliver with a first-pitch double in between the Express’ left and right fielders that would travel all the way to the fence clearing the bases, scoring the Honkers third, fourth and fifth runs. The big inning would chase Express starting pitcher, Andy Davis (St. Scholastica), out of the ballgame.

As if starting pitcher Spencer Greer needed the help. Greer followed up the huge 2nd inning for the Honkers with a 1-2-3 inning. Greer retired nine batters in a row between the 1st and 4th innings. Eventually pitching with a 7-0 lead, Honkers field manager, Matt Bowman, felt comfortable giving Greer a rest after he finished up his sixth inning of work. Greer would finish the game allowing just 3 hits and 1 walk and striking out 4 batters.

Ryan Fritze (Des Moines CC) earned a save after coming in relief for Greer and pitching three innings. He allowed Eau Claire’s only run, a homerun by Tyler Hermann (Milwaukee) in the 7th inning.

Tonight, the Honkers embark on a five-game road jaunt that will take them to Duluth, Thunder Bay and Mankato. They’ll return home on Thursday to play the Mankato MoonDogs to conclude a two-game series with Mankato.

( courtesy of Rochester Honkers )