Duluth wins sixth straight
The Duluth Huskies completed a two-game sweep of La Crosse with a 6-5 victory Friday night at Copeland Park. Duluth has now won six straight games, the longest active streak in the Northwoods League.
The Huskies got on the board in the top of the first inning when Sam Baier raced home from third base after an errant throw went into center field. La Crosse tied the game in the bottom half when Brandon Raquet scored on a fielder’s choice. The Loggers took their first and only lead in the second inning when Shane McGuire grounded out with the bases loaded, scoring Ramon Padilla.
John Lagattuta singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning and two batters later Justin Mitchell tied the game with an RBI double. The Huskies retook the lead later in the inning when Julian Escobedo brought in Mitchell with a triple.
Mitchell singled to lead off the sixth inning and later scored on a base hit by Augie Isaacson. Duluth added two more runs in the top of the eighth when Kyle Jacobsen stole home and Nick Sogard scored on an error. The Loggers hit two homeruns late in the game; a solo shot by Donta Williams in the eighth and a Jordan Holladay two-run blast with two outs in the ninth but a line drive to Nick Sogard ended the game.
Kyle Mora (1-0) was the winning pitcher, throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in his Northwoods League debut. Levi Shandrew struck out two batters and recorded his third save while Chris Gilbody finished 3-4 at the plate with three stolen bases.
The Huskies improve to 13-5 while La Crosse drops to 9-8 on the season. Duluth now holds a two-game lead in the North Division over Bismarck, Mankato and Willmar.
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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.
