PAGE 1 TAKE A GANDER! Rochester Honkers | Northwoods League Mayo Field - 403 E. Center St. Rochester, MN 55904 Jordan Lank, Director of Media Relations - (507)-289-1170 ROCHESTER HONKERS (7-28) vs. ST. CLOUD ROX (26-13) Game #36 — Tuesday, August 18, 2020 — Mayo Field — 6:35 p.m. CST LHP Salvatore Ferro (1-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP Landen Bourassa (3-0, 1.96 ERA) ABOUT LAST NIGHT... It was a tough night from the get-go for the Honkers on Monday, who MINNESOTA/IOWA POD STANDINGS went ahead early in the first but couldn’t find a groove on the hill, TEAM W L PCT GB STR L10 surrendering 10 runs for the second consecutive day to fall 10-1. ST. CLOUD 25 12 .676 -- W4 9-1 Aaron Simmons (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) was the main bright spot Waterloo 27 13 .675 0.5 W2 7-3 on offense, driving in a run in the first inning on a one-out single to plate Taison Corio (Cal Poly). Center fielder Nick Thimsen (Concor- Willmar 19 20 .487 7.0 L5 1-9 dia-St. Paul) picked up his first two-hit night of the season, collecting Mankato 17 22 .436 9.0 L2 5-5 a pair of singles to tally two of Rochester’s five hits on the evening. ROCHESTER 7 28 .200 17.0 L2 3-7 It was not Dallas Miller’s (St. Scholastica) night on the bump, working into numerous jams through 2.1 innings pitched. The senior was LAST TIME VERSUS ST. CLOUD... drubbed for seven earned runs on eight hits in what was his first start The last series the Honkers played against St. Cloud was one of the more exciting of the season. Miller faced 18 batters and got just seven out — two two-game swings of the season. Rochester broke its franchise-record 14-game on the ground, three in the air and two punchouts — en route to his losing streak in the first game against the Rox (8/6), defeating St. Cloud 10-8 with a second losing decision in as many appearances on the season. barrage of early offense. The next night, the Rox nearly no-hit the Honkers, as Luke Albright (Kent State) and Kevin Davis (USC-Upstate) combined for seven no-hit A DIFFERENT LOOK FOR THE ITALIAN STALLION frames on the way to a 2-0 Honkers loss. Sal Ferro (Long Island) will take the ball for field manager Deskaheh Bomberry tonight for his fourth start of the 2020 campaign. Each of WITHOUT WRECK-IT WROBO Ferro’s previous three starts came against the Waterloo Bucks and the The Honkers’ roster looks fairly different than it did the last time Rochester faced rising junior has not seen action versus the Rox this season. The Ital- off against St. Cloud. A majority of the team’s offensive production has left to go ian turned in a robust performance the last time he started a ballgame back to school, including Dallas Baptist catcher/outfielder Ryan Wrobleski. “Wro- (8/13 vs. WAT), tossing five strong innings and allowing just four hits. bo” was arguably the most consistent bat against St. Cloud during his tenure with The Bucks managed three runs (two earned) against Ferro, who was the Honkers, hitting just .222 but driving in six runs against the Rox, the most of in line to earn the win before Rochester’s relief pitching surrendered any Rochester player in 2020. Wrobleski also drew four walks against St. Cloud. four runs in the ninth inning to take a 7-5 loss. THE SIM-SANITY CONTINUES SHARK OUT OF WATER Returning Honker Aaron Simmons (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) has started his Sal’s efficiency to start games is in stark contrast to how he per- 2020 slate on a hot note. Simmons has reached base in 10 of the first 11 games he’s formes out of the bullpen. While Ferro’s only seen Waterloo in each played for Rochester this year, tallying a double and a pair of solo home runs on top of his starts, which may contribute to the inflation in numbers, he is of six RBIs and 13 walks. The Pointer leads the Honkers in on-base percentage with considerably better out of the bullpen. In three starts, Ferro has thrown a .468 mark over 47 plate appearances and possesses a 13:8 BB/K ratio at the plate. 13.2 innings, allowing 15 runs (13 earned) on 19 hits while striking out Simmons, who walked 19 times over 47 games in 2019, could reach that mark in 13 eight and walking eight. His five relief outings have been much kinder: games this season with six walks over the final two games of the year. in 11.2 innings out of the bullpen, Ferro has allowed only six runs on seven hits, striking out over two times more batters than he’s walked STILL A CORE-IO PART OF THE OFFENSE (13:6 K/BB). Honkers infielder Taison Corio went through a strong six-game stretch against the Waterloo Bucks last week. The Cal Poly Mustang went 6-for-20 against the Bucks in ROX BY THE NUMBERS that stretch (.300) and mashed a trio of doubles to pair with five walks and three Rochester hasn’t fared well against St. Cloud this season in the RBIs. Corio reached base 44% of the time versus the Bucks over the six-game span, run-scoring department. The Honkers have been outscored by the scoring four runs and strking out only three times. Rox 51-33 in eight games, and the team’s 51 runs against Rochester is TONIGHT’S UMPIRES good for 25.5% of St. Cloud’s offensive output this season. The Team in HP: Kai Nakamura (CC) Teal has scratched out two of their seven wins versus the Rox, second in the pod (three wins vs. Mankato, one win vs. Willmar and Waterloo 1B: Ian Land each). 3B: Quin Westfield COMING UP THIS WEEK... WATCH THE HONKERS portal.stretchinternet.com/nwlhonkers @RochHonkers 8/19 vs. STC Rademacher (0-1, 9.82) vs. Schoeberl (0-2, 5.03) LISTEN TO THE HONKERS @honkersbaseball mixlr.com/honkersbroadcast END OF 2020 SEASON FOLLOW THE HONKERS Rochester Honkers rochesterhonkers.com Baseball PAGE 2 ABOUT TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER TODAY’S HONKERS HURLER LONG ISLAND U. (2020) 2020: Made three relief appearances before the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 virus... Tallied four innings of work with 8 three strikeouts... Struck out two batters during two innings of work in his debut SALVATORE “SAL” FERRO at USC Upstate... Tossed a scoreless 1.1 LHP | R-SO. | LONG ISLAND U. innings at Nicholls 5-8 | 200 | MIDDLE VILLAGE, NY 2019: Did not pitch in a game due to injury… NEC REPERTOIRE: 4SFB, CB, CUT, CH Spring Academic Honor Roll Member. 2018: 2020 WITH ROCHESTER Appeared in 11 games, making two starts ERA W-L G-GS CG SH SV IP H R ER for the LIU... Finished with a 1-1 record in 14.1 6.75 1-2 8-3 0 0 0 25.1 26 21 19 innings... Recorded first start of the season BB SO 2B 3B HR WP HB BF WHIP BAA against Fordham in March, throwing four 15 19 3 0 3 1 3 118 1.62 .268 innings, giving up just three hits and one earned run while striking out four... Struck 2020 GAME-BY-GAME out two batters giving up no earned runs DATE OPP RES DEC IP H R-ER BB-HB SO BF-P-S during two-inning appearance against 8-13-20 vs. WAT L, 7-5 ND 5.0 4 3-2 4-0 4 23-82-49 Bryant in April. 8-8-20 vs. MAN W, 7-3 W 4.0 1 0-0 2-0 4 16-59-38 Background: 8-4-20 vs. WAT L, 8-1 L 4.2 9 8-7 2-1 1 26-71-44 Earned four varsity letters playing at St. 7-27-20 @ WAT L, 6-0 L 4.0 6 4-4 2-0 3 20-63-40 Francis Prep... Two-way player, having won 7-24-20 @ MAN L, 6-5 ND 1.0 0 2-2 2-1 2 6-37-20 team MVP awards at both outfield and 7-22-20 vs. WAT L, 10-6 ND 3.0 3 1-1 2-0 1 13-45-28 pitching positions... Named First Team 7-17-20 vs. MAN L, 13-5 ND 2.2 3 3-3 0-1 4 12-49-33 All-Queens by the Times Ledger... Named 7-14-20 @ WIL L, 7-4 ND 1.0 0 0-0 0-0 2 3-16-7 honorable mention All-City by News 12... BOLD INDICATES GAME STARTED Batted .425 his senior season and was 5-0 on the mound... Went 7-1 in summer ball in 2020 WITH LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY 2017, yielding only two earned runs in 21 ERA W-L G-GS CG SH SV IP H R ER innings for the Midville Dodgers in Middle 6.75 0-0 3-0 0 0-0 0 4.0 4 3 3 Village, Queens. BB SO 2B 3B HR WP HB BF WHIP BAA 5 3 1 0 0 0 1 22 2.25 .267 FACTS ABOUT FERRO Ferro is incredibly proud of being from Ferro has a five-step process that gets him Queens, NY and of his Italian heritage. ready to pitch.