Honkers Suffer Worst Loss of the Season to Duluth 13-8.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A raucous crowd of 1,838 at Mayo Field may have seen the worst loss of the season thus far for the Honkers (7-25), as they blew an 8-0 lead, giving up 13 unanswered runs from the sixth inning on to lose to the Duluth Huskies (17-16) 13-8.

The Honkers wasted a quality start out of Erik Cha, in which he went 6.2 innings allowing only 3 runs on one hit, and only five baserunners.

Cha gave up a lead-off single up the middle but he then went on to retire the next 14 batters to quiet the Huskies offense.

Jackson Thoreson got the Honkers started in the second with a solo shot on the second pitch of the inning to give the Honkers a 1-0 lead.

The big inning came in the bottom of the third. The Honkers scored four runs, on five hits getting RBI singles from, Casey Worden, Thoreson, and Kyle Kasser to give the Honkers a 5-0 lead.

Alex Fitchett added to the Honkers lead in the bottom of the fourth hitting a 2-1 pitch atleast 380 feet, a good 60 feet beyond the left field wall, for his sixth on the season to give the Honkers a 6-0 lead. In the bottom of the fifth the Honkers added their final two runs, when Jacob Thomas hit a tow-run home run to left center to drive in Jackson Thoreson and give the Honkers the 8-0 lead. In the top of the sixth, the Huskies finally got to Cha as they scored a run on a wild pitch to make the score 8-1. In the seventh, Cha got into trouble allowing a solo home run off the bat of Liam Sabino to make the game 8-2, then after a double play, allowed another home run off the bat of Mitch Reeves to make the score 8-3. After allowing the next two to reach on a walk, Cha was relieved by Hunter Van Horn.

Van Horn retired the first batter he saw on a force out to third to end the inning and get out of the jam.  However, in the eighth, Van Horn walked himself into a mess. After giving up a lead off single, and retiring the next batter, VanHorn walked the next four batters, allowing two runs before being relieved by newcomer Stevie Ledezma. After retiring the first batter on a flyout to second, Ledezma walked one to make the score 8-6. The next batter ended up being the most important of the game. Ledezma got to a 1-1 count on Brendan McClary before he grounded one up the middle that was playable for Kyle Kasser, until he booted it.

That made the score 8-8. Daniel Amaral then hit a single through the hole on the right side of the infield, to give his team the lead 10-8 . Austin Bernard then drove him in on a double to make the score 11-8, Sabino then hit his second home run of the day and third of the year, a two-run shot to right, to make the score 13-8.

For the inning, the Honkers gave up 10 runs, and seven of those runs were unearned, on only four hits, while walking six total in the inning.

In the eighth, the Honkers got two on with two outs, but were unable to score.