Huskies 6-4 after first ten games
Duluth, Minn — After the first ten games of the 2019 season, the Duluth Huskies have a record of 6-4 and are currently tied with the Waterloo Bucks for first place in the Great Plains East Division.
Last Thursday on May 31st, the Huskies suffered their first loss of the season to the La Crosse Loggers by a score of 7-5. The Loggers got six combined runs in the 2nd and 4th innings to propel them to victory. The Huskies started a bit of a rally in the 8th inning after scoring 3 runs courtesy of Dexter Swims who brought home Matt Hogan on a double and Danny Zimmerman. Carter Putz gave the Huskies their last run of the game with an opposite field home run.
Duluth dropped their second straight game the next day against the Eau Claire Express 9-4. Again, two innings made the difference when the Express had a five-run and a three-run inning. The Huskies suffered a big momentum killer when Noah Marcelo was sent back to 2nd base. He appeared to score on a stolen base and an error, but umpire interference was called which kept the score 5-2 in favor of the Express. 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 out eleven Huskies.
The next day the Huskies would beat the Express handedly 11-5 behind a five-run 7th inning on Opening Day. Duluth batted around the order that inning as 3 different Huskies were hit by pitches. Nic Kent had an impressive day as he had 2 hits in 4 tries, an RBI, and a stolen base. The Huskies pitching staff did a great job as Jake McDonald and Mason Bryant threw 3 scoreless innings to keep the Express trailing the last third of the game.
The next day was a thriller of a game as the Huskies walked it off 7-6 in eleven innings after a Rox passed ball scored Dexter Swims. Duluth’s offense struggled to produce most of the afternoon to the credit of St. Cloud starter Justin Simanek who gave up one run through 5 IP.. Tyler Lozano started a Huskies rally in the 9th inning when he scored Dexter Swims on a huge RBI triple. Lozano would then tie the game up on a passed ball to send it into extra innings deadlocked at 4. Both teams battled and scored back and forth until the 11th inning when Dexter Swims would tie it up with a double and would cross home shortly after to win 7-6.
The Rox would strike back in St. Cloud to win 7-2. RJ Martinez of the Rox had a solid outing against the Huskies as he gave up 2 runs on 5 hits and struck out 5 through 7 IP. Only 4 Huskies were able to log hits as Danny Zimmerman had the only RBI of the day. Things started to fall apart for Duluth in the later innings, especially as the Huskies started to dive into their bullpen. The Rox were able to score one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and one in the seventh.
The next day the Huskies traveled to Waterloo for a 2-game series against the Bucks. Game one was quite the contest when Ramon Enriquez smashed a 2-run home run in the 10th inning to make the final score 8-5. The Huskies were able to get the scoring going after they got 2 runs on a Sam Olson error. They would add on 2 more in the 4th after Matt Hogan came home on a single from Noah Marcelo. Hogan got on after he singled in Ramon Enriquez. But the Bucks came back in the later innings when they scored 5 runs in the 6th and 7th innings to tie things up at 5 entering extra innings. The Huskies got started right away after Nic Kent came home on a wild pitch to give Duluth a one-run lead. But Ramon Enriquez put the game away with a 2-run home run. Waterloo would not be able to score in the bottom of the 10th to give the Huskies their 6th win of the year.
Last night the Huskies fought to the very end as they came up short against the Bucks 4-3. Waterloo got on the board first with a Dylan Phillips 2 RBI single to score Jake Gitter and Bryce Wooldridge who both got walked on base. The Bucks scored their last run of the game in the 4th inning when Dylan Phillips scored again, this time on a wild pitch. Matt Hogan started the Huskies scoring in the 6th inning with an RBI double scoring Tyler Lozano. Danny Zimmerman cut the Bucks lead to 2 in the 7th inning, scoring Lance Ford. Ramon Enriquez would start a rally in the 9th inning when he came home on a Bucks error to make it 4-3. That would end the scoring though as Alec Holcomb earned the save.
The Huskies will be at home tonight to start a 7 game homestand at 7:05 pm against the Willmar Stingers. Tonight is Prince Night and College Night at Wade Stadium, so be sure to come by. There will also be a pregame concert featuring Velahsa starting at 5:15 pm, and postgame fireworks that you will not want to miss out on. Be sure to follow the Huskies on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram 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 26th 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.
