Honkers Win Fourth straight 9-8 in Comeback Victory

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Earlier this season, the Honkers (11-33, 4-5) had built momentum with a key win but couldn't carry it over to the next day. Well, the Honkers did that tonight, for the fourth day in a row, and in incredible comeback fashion.

The Honkers took a 9-8 victory versus the Kalamazoo Growlers (24-21, 4-5) after being down 5-0 and 6-1 to win their fourth in a row and come within a game of .500 for the second half.

Honkers starter Houston Glad had a nine pitch first inning but he didn't have such luck in the second. Glad gave up five runs on five hits, with the big hit coming off the bat of David Hensley who hit a two-run home run to give his team a 5-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, the Honkers got one of their own on a Miles Lewis infield single that scored Alex Fitchett from third who reached to lead off the inning on a drop-third strike. That would be it for the inning the score was at 5-1 going into the third.

In the third the Growlers added one more when Nick Hutchins scored an unearned run when Camden Duzenack grounded into a double play to make the score 6-1.

In the bottom half of the inning, the comeback began.

The Honkers scored four in the inning thanks to two home runs. Turner Buis led off the inning with a single to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, tying for eighth best of all time. Ryan Fitzpatrick then followed that hit with a big blast to left-center making the score 6-3. Drew Ellis then doubled down the line and Alex Fitchett hit a two-run home run of his own to bring the game to 6-5.

The Honkers were held scoreless the next two as the Growlers added one in the fourth and one in the fifth to make the score 8-5 going into the bottom of the sixth when the Honkers completed the comeback effort. The Honkers got started with a lead-off walk by Alex Fitchett, then he was driven in by Josh Davis who hit his third home run of the year and closed the deficit to 8-7. Keaton Weisz then walked, and after a Miles Lewis double, and Kyle Kasser walk, it brought up Turner Buis.

The most important inning for Herber came in the eighth when he allowed runners on first and third with no one out, but just like the night before, a Honkers reliever stepped up and put a goose egg on the scoreboard thanks to a popped up bunt, a shallow fly out to centerfield, and lastly a Sam Griggs groundout to second to end the inning.

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