WJONAM

The St. Cloud Rox played their first home game of the 2012 season and lost 5-0 to Mankato at Joe Faber Field. Former Kansas City Royal star Bret Saberhagen threw out the first pitch. The Rox failed to score off 3 Mankato pitchers. The Moon Dogs combined to threw a 4-hit shutout. Matt McDaniel threw 6 shutout inning to get the win for the Moon Dogs. Ben Meyer allowed 2 earned runs in 5 innings to take the loss for St. Cloud. Adam Martin continues to hit well for St. Cloud going 3-4.

The Twins downed Cleveland 7-4 Saturday night behind solid performances from Trevor Plouffe and Joe Mauer. Mauer was 3-5 with a 2-run homerun and 3 RBIs on the night and Plouffe was 2-4 with a solo homerun and 3 RBIs on the night. Ben Revere and Denard Span each added 2 hits and Revere scored 2 runs. P.J. Walters started the game but didn't hang around long enough to get the win. He allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

The St. Cloud Rox lost 10-5 at Mankato Friday night. Mankato scored 5 runs in the 2nd inning and never trailed in their win over St. Cloud. Tony Mollica allowed 6 runs (4 earned) in 2 innings to take the loss for the Rox. Boo Vazquez and Adam Martin each had 2 hits and 2 runs scored and both Travis Enger and Ryan Kiesel had 2 hits and 1 RBI for St. Cloud. Will Huff hit a solo homerun for the Rox.

The Twins lost 7-1 in Cleveland Friday night to end their 3-game win streak. Carl Pavano allowed 9 hits and 7 runs (6 earned) in just 3 2/3 innings to take the loss and drop to 2-5. Jason Kipnis hit a grand slam for the Indians and Derek Lowe threw 6 2/3 innings with 1 earned run allowed to get the win. Brian Dozier was 1-3 with 1 RBI for the Twins.

The plant manager of the crippled Verso paper mill in Sartell says it will be a week or more before they know when the plant might re-open.

The Minnesota Wild signed goaltender Johan Gustafsson to a 3-year entry level contract. The Wild made that announcement Thursday giving them 5 picks from the 2010 draft under contract. The 20-year old Gustafsson had a 1.68 goals against average and a .932 save percentage in the Swedish Elite League this season.

The St. Cloud Rox won their first game in franchise history 10-9 at Duluth Thursday night. St. Cloud scored 9 runs in the 5th inning before Duluth scored 5 in the bottom of the 5th inning. Adam Martin hit a solo homerun for St. Cloud in the 6th inning to lead 10-6. Duluth added 3 runs in the 9th inning but St. Cloud escapes with the team. Martin led the Rox going 3-5 with a homerun and 2 RBIs, Patrick Gamblin went 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 1 RBI and Will Huff was 2-5 with 2 RBIs for St. Cloud.

Nearly 40 area community fire departments and numerous agencies are being praised for their efforts in the wake of the Verso mill explosion.

A new fire fighting effort's underway at the Verso Paper Mill in Sartell to finally put out a fire that's been burning for over three days.

A fund has been set-up for Verso Paper employees and the family of Jon Maus. Bank Vista has established the Jon M. Maus Memorial Fund and the Sartell Verso Employee Relief Fund.