June 29, 2007

Brainerd tops Honkers in Northwoods League baseball game

By Donny Henn

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

The Rochester Honkers might be taking this gracious host thing a bit too far.

A year after being almost unbeatable at Mayo Field, the Honkers have seemingly lost their home field edge.

The Brainerd Blue Thunder scored five runs in the first inning Thursday night and cruised to a 9-6 win over Rochester in a Northwoods League summer college baseball game.

A crowd of 1,301 watched the Honkers lose their second straight home game and dip to 13-15 overall in the North Division. Rochester is 7-7 in home games, after going 27-7 at Mayo Field last season.

"We're not playing well anywhere right now," said Honkers manager Greg Labbe. "It's not like we're getting it done on the road, either."

Brainerd is statistically the worst team in the league, entering the game with a league-low .224 team batting average and a league-high 5.06 ERA. Yet it was Brainerd's fourth straight win against Rochester this season. The Blue Thunder are 11-16 in the North Division.

Brainerd touched Rochester starting pitcher Reed Woytek (Baylor) for six hits and Woytek hit another batter as the Blue Thunder sent 10 to the plate in the first inning.

Brainerd went up 6-0 in the second inning on a solo homer by Ryan Royster, his first of the season.

It was a similar story six days earlier at Brainerd, when the Blue Thunder tagged Woytek for five runs in the first inning in an 8-7 Brainerd win.

"We gave up 13 hits to a team that's last in the league in hitting, and it's not like they were getting cheap hits," Labbe said.

"If we don't come to play we're a very, very beatable team. They've just come out and out-played us the last four games."

Rochester got on the board in the third inning when Aaron Senne (Missouri) smashed a first-pitch offering from Brainerd starter Mihai Burlea off the scoreboard in right-center for his first homer in a Honkers uniform.

Senne, a Rochester native, had his best game at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and he raised his batting average to .228.

"That felt a lot better," Senne said. "I came in just hoping to get one hit, but I'll take three. I didn't get all of that home-run ball, but it still felt pretty good."

The Honkers closed within one run with a four-run fifth inning. All four of the runs were unearned and scored after there were two outs. Chris Jones (Cal State Fullerton) and Senne had run-scoring singles against Burlea, who is from Romania and has only played organized baseball for three years.

Brainerd added two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh against Honkers reliever Tim Radmacher (Nebraska). Radmacher hurt himself with wild pitches in both innings which allowed runs to score.

The Honkers have allowed a spate of runs in the last week on wild pitches or passed balls. Two last weekend came in the bottom of the ninth and resulted in Rochester defeats.

"Sometimes it's the pitcher's fault; sometimes it's the catcher; but it's happening too much," Labbe said. "We just continue to make the same mistakes over and over."

Rochester tacked on a run in the bottom of the ninth on a solo homer by Shaver Hansen (Baylor), his first of the season. Rochester leads the league with 21 home runs.

"There are times when this team looks like it has a chance to be very good," Labbe said, "and then we make a lot of rookie mistakes."

The Honkers close the two-game series with Brainerd at 7:05 p.m. today at Mayo Field. After that, the team embarks on a five-game road trip. The next home game is next Friday, July 6.

BLUE THUNDER 9, HONKERS 6

BRAINERD (9) ROCHESTER (6)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Dirks cf 5 1 1 0 Hoisington cf 5 1 1 0

Royster rf 5 2 3 1 Gaski ss 4 1 1 0

Scruggs 3b 3 1 0 0 Campbell 2b 1 0 0 0

Komatsu lf 5 1 1 1 Hansen 2b 3 2 1 1

Rose 2b 3 1 1 1 Jones rf 4 1 1 1

Symons ss 4 1 1 1 Feathrstn dh 5 0 1 1

Cuno dh 4 0 2 0 Senne 1b 4 1 3 2

Pascoe c 4 1 3 1 Southers c 3 0 0 0

McDonald 1b 3 1 1 1 Spear ph 1 0 0 0

Norris c 0 0 0 0

Flores 3b 4 0 1 0

Lutes lf 3 0 0 0

Totals 36 9 13 6 Totals 37 6 9 5

Blue Thunder 510 002 100 -- 9 13 2

Honkers 001 040 001 -- 6 9 2

E -- BRA, Rose, Symons; ROC, Southers, Radmacher. DP -- ROC 1. LOB -- BRA 5, ROC 8. 2B -- ROC, Flores. HR -- BRA, Royster; ROC, Senne, Hansen. SB -- BRA, Dirks, Scruggs. CS -- BRA, Pascoe.

IP H R ER BB SO

Brainerd

Burlea W,2-1 7 8 5 1 1 6

Guttosch 2 1 1 1 0 3

Rochester

Woytek L,2-1 2 7 6 6 0 0

Radmacher 5 6 3 1 2 4

Finn 2 0 0 0 0 4

Time -- 2:50. Attendance -- 1,301.