Big first inning propels Duluth past St. Cloud
Duluth Minn– The Duluth Huskies scored seven times in the first inning and celebrated Education Day with a 10-6 win over St. Cloud on Monday.
Augie Isaacson led off the bottom of the first with an infield single. Tony Monroy was hit by the pitch and John Lagattuta walked to load the bases for Hunter Bigge with no outs. Bigge became the second hit batsman of the inning, giving the Huskies an early 1-0 lead. Duluth followed with four consecutive RBI singles and a pair of sacrifice groundouts to take a 7-0 lead.
The score held until the bottom of the fifth when Chris Gilbody led off with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice groundout. Later that inning, Augie Isaacson put the Huskies ahead 10-0 with a two-run triple.
The Rox answered with five runs over the next three innings to cut the deficit in half entering the ninth. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs but a strikeout, a sacrifice groundout and a flyout ended the game.
Zac Shoemaker (1-1) was the winning pitcher, tossing six innings while allowing two runs on five hits. The left-hander issued one walk and struck out seven. Carlo Graffeo (0-2) suffered the loss, allowing seven earned runs while failing to record an out in his second start of the season. The Rox stranded eight runners on base in the final four innings while Duluth topped St. Cloud at Wade Stadium for the first time since July 10, 2015.
Gilbody led Duluth offensively, finishing 4-5 with two doubles and two runs scored. Seven different Huskies recorded an RBI while all nine starters reached base. Duluth, now winners of three straight games, improve to 4-3 while St. Cloud drops to 3-4 on the year. The two teams will meet again Tuesday night in St. Cloud with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 pm
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The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.duluthhuskies.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Huskies as your favorite team.
