Huskies stay in first place with three games to play
The Duluth Huskies traveled to Mankato, Minnesota on Saturday for the first of a two-game road series against the Mankato Moondogs. The contest was close throughout, but ultimately, the Huskies (23-10) were able to slow down the Mankato (21-12) bats when it mattered most and get a much-needed road victory.
Duluth broke the deadlock in the third inning against Mankato starting pitcher Jon Ludwig (Minnesota State-Mankato) on an RBI double by Chris Gilbody (Georgetown College).
In the fourth, the Huskies increased their lead thanks to an early error by the Moondogs defense. Following the Mankato mistake, Christian Jones (Washington) drove in the second run of the contest for Duluth. Moments later, Sam Baier (Augustana) hit an RBI groundout to make it 3-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
On the mound, the Huskies looked to starting pitcher Hayden Shenefield (Cal State Northridge). On the night, the right-hander tossed six innings, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out 4 batters and issuing zero walks.
The two runs allowed by Shenefield came on consecutive swings in the fourth as Kyle Cuellar (UCLA) and Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) hit back-to-back homeruns to make it 3-2.
In the fifth, the Huskies increased their lead on an RBI single by Gilbody that brought in Justin Mitchell (Oklahoma to score).
In the seventh, Duluth manager Tyger Pederson looked to right-handed reliever Tim Holdgrafer (Cal Poly Pomona) to close things down. The reliever tossed three scoreless innings, while allowing only one hit, on his way to securing the save.
In the ninth, the Huskies added an insurance run thanks to the fourth error of the night against Mankato to make it 5-2.
Duluth held on to win the game and improve to 23-10 on the year, while staying in first place in the North Division with three games to play in the first half.
The Huskies are back in action tomorrow as they take on Mankato once again. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. and, as always, make sure to tune in to live game coverage on 92.1 The Fan in and around Duluth.
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The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering 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
