Duluth Sweeps Mankato
The Duluth Huskies defeated the Mankato Moondogs in walk-off fashion on Monday night. Duluth (9-5) center fielder Augie Isaacson (Friends University) scored the winning run to defeat the Moondogs (8-6) 3-2 in 10 innings.
Isaacson got things going for Duluth in the first inning when he led off with a base hit before stealing his league-leading fourteenth base of the season. Moment’s later, Nick Sogard (Loyola Marymount) drove in Isaacson to put the Huskies up 1-0.
The Moondogs went quietly through the first two innings against Duluth starting pitcher Zac Shoemaker (Missouri Southern).
Shoemaker tossed eight innings on the mound, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out five Moondogs.
The two runs surrendered by Shoemaker came across in the third inning off back-to-back RBI base hits. The first RBI off the bat of Josh Elvir (Houston) brought in Kenton Crews (Evansville) to score, tying the game at 1-1. Moments later, Elvir scored on an RBI single by Blaze Glenn (Youngstown State) to give Mankato the lead.
After Duluth’s offensive success in the first inning, the bats went cold. Mankato starting pitcher, Josh Ramirez, settled into a groove on the mound, completing six innings of work, allowing one run on six hits while striking out seven Huskies.
The score remained 2-1 until the eighth inning. There, the Huskies offense produced their league-leading 93rd run of the season.
In the frame, Duluth tied the game on an RBI sacrifice fly by Tor Sehnert (Coastal Carolina) that brought in Sam Baier (Augustana).
In the ninth, Huskies head coach Tyger Pederson turned to reliever Levi Shandrew (Eastern New Mexico) to replace Shoemaker. Shandrew added two innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit while fanning five Mankato batters.
The game went to extra innings tied at 2-2, as Shandrew continued to deal on the mound. In the tenth, the Huskies got the leadoff man on base when Isaacson hit a leadoff double. Two batters later, Baier singled up the middle to bring in the winning run in walk-off fashion.
The Huskies’ 3-2 win improves their record to 9-5 on the year. They return to action tomorrow on the road to take on the Thunder Bay Border Cats. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
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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
