Duluth drops final two games of the road trip
Duluth, Minn — Two big innings made the difference Saturday night when the Huskies lost to the Express 9-4 in Eau Claire’s home opener. A five-run and three-run inning for the Express put them on the track to victory as the Huskies had no answer to Eau Claire’s bursts of offense.
Duluth jumped to an early first inning lead after an error scored Noah Marcelo and Lance Ford came home on a bases-loaded walk.
But the Express turned up the steam in the second with a two-run double from Sam Stonskas and a bases-clearing three-RBI double by Brock Burton. Those two hits gave Eau Claire a 5-2 lead.
The Huskies scored twice in the third to get within one run of tying it. In the fifth inning, with a Noah Marcelo on second base and nobody out, Marcelo stole third and an errant throw from catcher Adam Krajewski appeared to bring home a run. However, umpire interference was called by the home plate umpire, which sent Marcelo back to second base. Huskies were held scoreless the rest of the night.
The Express tallied another big inning in the seventh to make things comfortable. After a run in the sixth inning, Boone Montgomery hit a two-RBI single and Adam Krajewski added an RBI single of his own. That made it 9-4 Express and that would be the final score.
Reliever Cole LaLonde picked up the win for Eau Claire in a magnificent outing. LaLonde pitched four innings, allowed only one hit, no runs and struck eleven Huskies. Express improve to 1-4 this season. Huskies starter Owen Meaney got the loss after a two-inning start with three hits and five runs allowed. Huskies drop to 3-2 after consecutive losses.
The Huskies go for the split against the Express in the home opener Sunday afternoon at Wade Stadium. First Pitch is at 3:05 CST. You can catch all the action at the Wade or if you can’t make it to the ballpark, tune into 92.1 the Fan and online at twinportssportshub.com starting at 2:55 CST or stream the game on the Northwoods League Baseball Network.
Tickets for Opening Day and all 36 Huskies home games are available at duluthhuskies.com. Be sure to follow the Duluth Huskies on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat all season long for more news and info.
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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 22 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 200 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.