Honkers suffer first loss of second half to St. Cloud

(ABC 6 News) — The Rochester Honkers say they believe their best baseball is in front of them and the Northwoods League season is a tale of two halves.

Entering Friday’s contest against the St. Cloud Rox, the Honkers were undefeated in the second half. They split a pair against the Rox in mid-June and looked to show how much they’ve improved since that 2-game series.

Instead, they showed many of the same mistakes which plagued them in the first half. The Honkers fell behind 4-0 early in this game but battled back and made it a one-run game in the fourth inning.

It stayed that way until the seventh when St. Cloud took a 5-3 lead and extended it to 7-3 in the ninth behind Charlie Condon’s two-run double. In the bottom of the ninth, the Honkers scored two runs on a Will Asby solo home run and Michael Brown RBI double. Unfortunately, Rochester’s Alex Ritzer lined out representing the tying run to end the game.

The loss snaps the Honkers’ three-game winning streak and drops them to 17-20 on the season. They will get a rematch with the Rox Saturday night at 6:35 pm.