LA CROSSE, WI – 36 La Crosse Logger home games have now come and gone. What a great 15th anniversary season it has been. The Loggers were ready to end the 2017 season with a bang. After trailing for most of the game, the Loggers put together a four-run bottom of the eighth to take the lead 5-4. That would be enough tonight as your La Crosse Loggers come back to beat the Waterloo Bucks in front of 4,017 fans, which would be the largest crowd of the season.
Loggers' starting pitchers have been getting the job done as of late. Tonight was no different. RHP Peter Hamot (Lewis) would get the job done as he pitched 6.0 innings allowing one run on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Relief pitchers, LHP Jason Seever (Arizona) and RHP Chris Boettcher (Indianapolis), would combine for 1.2 innings allowing three runs on three hits with four strikeouts. Finally, RHP Grant Ford (Nevada) would come in to close the game. In his 1.1 innings of work, he would record every out as a strikeout allowing no runs on no hits. This performance by Ford would be enough to qualify for the win, improving him to 2-1 on the season with a 5.02 ERA. RHP Carlisle Koestler would be handed the loss after a blow up bottom of the eighth inning.
The Loggers' offense started off very slow, but towards the end of the game produced when it mattered. Leading the offensive force tonight were Kennie Taylor (Duke) going 1-for-3 including a double, David Villar (South Florida) with a sacrafice fly to put the Loggers on the board in the bottom of the third inning, Andrew Tanous (Evansville) going 1-for-4 with an RBI single to put the Loggers ahead by one in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Jorge Gutierrez (Texas A&M) going 2-for-3 including a two-RBI single to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. This performance by Gutierrez would give him the title of player of the game for the night.
After this win, the Loggers move to 31-38 on the season. The Loggers will end the season with a two-game series at Bismarck this weekend. The 2017 season was filled with memories made one game at a time and we already cannot wait for another great year ahead of us. From all of us in Logger Nation, thank you for a unforgettable 2017 season. See you at The Lumberyard in 2018! #RollLogs
