Important weekend series coming up against the first place La Crosse Loggers

All four Duluth Huskies all stars showed off their skills in the last home game before the break, but it was not enough as the Bismarck Larks defeated the Huskies for the first time since June 1 by a score of 6-2.

One all-star, Troy Newell (Western Kentucky), got the starting nod on the mound for Duluth and pitched well, allowing just three runs and only four hits in 6.1 innings of work.

Both teams were held scoreless through five innings, as the Huskies couldn’t get to the Bismarck pitchers early. Newell ran into trouble in the seventh and couldn’t complete the inning as the Larks gathered four runs to take a 5-0 lead.

The Huskies had to rally late in the game, and they nearly did. In the eighth inning, a single by Chris Gilbody (Georgetown College) loaded the bases with nobody out and kept his batting average as third-best in the league. John Lagattuta (California, Berkeley) then reached on an error to score the first run of the game and keep the bases loaded.

But the rally was cut short when the Huskies hit into a double play, and could only muster one more run, and trailed by three in the ninth.

Bismarck struck for one more in the ninth to make it a 6-2 game, and that would be the final score as two runners reached in the bottom of the ninth, but none came home.

All four Huskies all stars played well. Nick Sogard (Loyola Marymount) reached four times, including a single and three walks. Gilbody had a hit and nearly another one as he hit the ball well every time at the plate. And Augie Isaacson (Friends) added two more hits to his league-leading total. Those three, along with Newell, will play in Kalamazoo on Tuesday.

With the loss, the Huskies move a half game back of the La Crosse Loggers for the second-half standings at 11-5 and keep a two game lead for overall record in the North Division at 35-17. This snaps a six-game win streak the Huskies had built, including two at home earlier this week against Bismarck.

Duluth faces a key series this weekend, as they travel to La Crosse to take on the top team in the north. First pitch tomorrow is at 6:05 p.m. and can be heard on 92.1 The Fan in the Duluth area, and online at thefanduluth.com live.

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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