La Crosse 5 – Thunder Bay 4
Aaron Gates (Pepperdine) launched a 2-0 offering from Thunder Bay reliever Chris Marlowe (Navarro) over the right field fence to make the Lumbermen a 5-4 walk-off winner on Friday night in front of 3,223 excited fans at Copeland Park on Friday night. The Border Cats would carry a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of ninth inning before the fireworks began. After Marlowe put two Loggers on via base on balls, Gates strolled to the plate and hit the third pitch into the night giving the Loggers (2-0) a sweep of Thunder Bay in the 2009 opening series.
Brainerd 4 – St. Cloud 0
Starting pitcher Taylor Babich (Rhodes College) threw six strong, scoreless innings, to lead the Lunkers to their first franchise victory over the St. Cloud River Bats, 4-0, spoiling St. Clouds home opener. Shon Roe (Loyola Marymount) made his Lunker debut with two hits and a run scored, and Stephen Wickens (Florida Gulf Coast) singled three times to lead the Brainerd offense.
Eau Claire 6 – Wisconsin 3
The Eau Claire Express moved to 2-0 on the season as they completed a series sweep of the Wisconsin Woodchucks. The Express defeated the Woodchucks 6-3 at Athletic Park in Wausau Friday night. Chris Odegaard (MSU-Mankato) started on the mound and threw seven innings and gave up only one earned run. Like Gera Sanchez (New Mexico JC) the previous night, Odegaard struck out nine batters to help pace the Express. Devan Kline (Central Michigan) pitched the 9th and recorded his second save of the season in as many games. On offense Joe Bonfe (Sierra College) and Nate Baumann (Augustana) both had three hits.
Mankato 4 – Rochester 4 (Ssp. – 13th Inn.)
In a night defined by pitching, Mankato held Rochester to just three hits through nine innings, but a Chris Auten (New Mexico St.) three-run homer in the sixth enabled the Honkers to send it to extra innings. The game never got out of extras, as the lights in Mankato shut down due to an automatic timing mechanism at 11pm, and the game was suspended to be resumed prior to the June 3rd contest at Mankato at 7:05pm.
Madison 7 – Alexandria 6
Troy Channing (St. Mary’s) hit a bases-clearing, go-ahead double, and Kevin Cahill (Purdue) held on to a one-run lead in the ninth inning to give the Mallards their first win of the season, 7-6 over Alexandria at Knute Nelson Park.
Battle Creek 3 – Duluth 2
The Bombers pushed across a run in the bottom of the 9th inning to defeat the Duluth Huskies 3-2 in Battle Creek.
Green Bay 5 – Waterloo 3 (Game 1)
Three perfect innings of relief by the Green Bay bullpen allowed the Bullfrogs to claim a 5-3 victory over the Waterloo Bucks. Alex Schmarzo (St. Mary’s) and Dixon Anderson (Cal) struck out five batters in the final three frames and six Bullfrogs recorded hits with five scoring runs in the seven inning game.
Green Bay 1 – Waterloo 0 (Game 2)
Zach Varce (Portland) and Craig Gullickson (Clemson) combined for a phenomenal pitching performance against the Waterloo Bucks and Sam VandenHeuvel had a walk-off walk to complete the sweep. Varce and Gullickson combined to strike out 12 Waterloo batters in the nightcap and Daniel Torrente (Missouri St.) had a pair of hits.
