Trailing by four after six innings, the Huskies scored six unanswered to reclaim first place.
The Duluth Huskies rallied late after a slow start and came away victorious in another thriller at Copeland Park, defeating the La Crosse Loggers by a score of 6-4.
At first, the Huskies struggled offensively. Augie Isaacson (Friends) led off the game with a double but was stranded on a double play ball, and after that the Huskies had almost no opportunities through the first six innings.
On the other end, Hunter Bigge (Harvard) allowed back-to-back hits to open the game with a run and fell behind early. But the starter recovered well, and pitched effectively for the rest of his start, allowing just three earned runs in five innings, striking out six batters.
But in the seventh, the Huskies needed to start the comeback, and it took a two-out rally to do so. Sean Watkins (Cal State Los Angeles) started with a single, one of two hits in his second game with the Huskies. Christian Jones (Washington) followed with a double, and then both scored on an error on a hard-hit ground ball from Michael McCann (Texas).
In the eighth, it was Isaacson who delivered with a home run to lead off the inning. Isaacson had a fantastic performance, with three hits and a walk, adding his first home run of the year.
Kieran Shaw (Harvard) kept the game intact, but Duluth still trailed by two runs in the ninth. Jones added another double to lead things off for Duluth.
With two outs, La Crosse made the decision to intentionally walk Isaacson to get to Nick Sogard (Loyola Marymount) who was then hit by a pitch. Then, Julian Escobedo (San Diego State) scored on a wild pitch after pinch-running for Jones and the Huskies tied the game. Right afterwards, Kyle Jacobsen (South Carolina) drove a two-run single into left field to put the Huskies on top.
It was back to the reliever Shaw to finish things off in the ninth. After a leadoff walk, he did just that, getting a strikeout and then a double play on a ground ball right to himself.
The comeback win over the Loggers put the Huskies back on top in the North Division second-half standings at 12-5. Duluth also takes a two-game lead for the overall division standings, with a 36-17 record. Perhaps most remarkably, the Huskies now own an 8-12 record when trailing through seven innings, proving that they never give up on a game.
The Huskies have only one more game before the All-Star Break where four Huskies will play for the north division in Kalamazoo. First pitch tomorrow from is at 5:05 p.m. at Copeland Park in La Crosse.
###
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
