Huskies bats come alive late to take game 1
Duluth, Minn — Through the first three innings of Monday’s ballgame neither team was able to put up a run as both squads were held to just three hits apiece. Justin Simanek of the St. Cloud Rox and Erik Kaiser of the Huskies pitched very strongly through their first couple times facing the other team’s batting order.
The Rox would be the one to break the 0-0 tie on an RBI groundout from Garett Delano that scored Zack Elliot in the top of the 4th inning to make it 1-0 in St. Cloud’s favor. In the top of the sixth inning, Brendan Tinsman scored on a Brady Harlan RBI single to make it 2-0 St. Cloud. Erik Kaiser would exit after giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and struck out 4 through 5.1 IP.
The Huskies would score their first run of the afternoon on an RBI single from Preston Hartsell that scored Aaron Greenfield, who went from first to third base after stealing second base and advanced on an underthrow from Rox catcher Dustin Wilcox earlier in the inning. Justin Simanek would exit the game after an outing in which he gave up 1 earned run on 4 Huskies hits and struck out 5 through 5.1 IP.
Garett Delano of the Rox resumed the scoring when he brought home Tyler Finke on a single to center field in the top of the 7th inning to make it 4-1 St. Cloud. Evan Yedinak’s day would be done after giving up 1 unearned run on 2 hits and struck out 3 Rox batters through 2 IP.
But Duluth would scratch another run across home plate in the bottom of the 7th inning when Noah Marcelo scored Milan Walla on a groundout after Walla stole both 2nd and 3rd base to cut St. Cloud’s lead to 2 entering the top of the 8th inning. St. Cloud reliever Gus Radel, who gave up 1 earned run on 1 hit and struck out 3 through 1.2 IP, would be replaced in the bottom of the 8th inning by Taylor Lepard of the Rox.
Tyler Lozano would begin a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning on a huge RBI triple scoring Dexter Swims from 2nd base. The Huskies would go on to tie the game when Lozano scored on a passed ball, making it 4-4 and the game would go to extra innings, the first of the Huskies 2019 season.
The Northwoods League is implementing a new rule this year for extra-inning games that places a runner at 2nd base at the beginning of every half inning. The Rox would take advantage of this when that placed runner Jordan Barth scored on a sac fly from Brady Harlan to put St. Cloud back up 5-4.
But the Huskies wouldn’t bow out easily as Lance Ford scored on a heads up play where he came across home after Aaron Greenfield stole 2nd base to make it 5-5. Both teams would continue to trade punches until the bottom of the 11th inning when Dexter Swims, who tied the game at 6 with an RBI double, crossed home on a passed ball to win the game 7-6.
The Huskies start a 3-game road trip starting tomorrow night against the St. Cloud Rox and then will travel to Waterloo and face the Bucks in a 2-game series taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. Duluth will then be back at Wade Stadium for a 7 game homestand starting on Friday night. Don’t forget to follow the Huskies on our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter 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.