Rox Dominate Hot Tots Thursday In Minot

The St. Cloud Rox beat the Minot Hot Tots 7-2 Thursday night at Corbett Field in Minot. The win improves St. Cloud to 18-5 on the season.

Ethan Gibson's RBI double to score Augusto Mungarrieta in the second inning gave the Rox a 1-0 lead. The Hot Tots answered with a run to tie the game at one in the fourth, but St. Cloud responded right away with two runs in the top of the fifth for a 3-1 lead.

The Rox runs came on a Brady Ballinger sacrifice fly and a Dominic Smaldino home run. After Minot was able to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth, St. Cloud posted four runs over the game's last two innings, highlighted by a Ballinger blast in the top of the ninth inning.

Aiden Lieser, Ryan Beaird and Jake Reigert combined for four innings of scoreless relief after a solid five-inning effort from Jake Burcham.

The Rox will play at Minot throughout the weekend before returning home for a game on Monday night. Friday's game is scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch.

Rox baseball can be heard all season long on AM 1390 and FM 93.9 Granite City Sports.