Duluth drops to 6-5 on the season
Duluth, Minn — The Duluth Huskies and the Willmar Stingers faced off Friday night at Wade Stadium in the first of a seven-game homestand. Both squads were held relatively in check through the first half of the ballgame, with each team only having 4 hits through 5 innings of play.
Willmar started quickly as they scored one run in the 1st inning off of a sac fly from John Trousdale that scored Sam Baier to make it 1-0 in the Stingers’ favor.
But the Huskies fought back to get on the board in the bottom of the 3rd inning when Nic Kent beat out the throw to 1st to bring home Matt Hogan which tied the game at 1. Hogan also got on base from an infield hit and stole 2nd shortly after to get into scoring position. Ramon Enriquez continued his recent hot streak when he hit an RBI double that scored Nic Kent from 2nd base to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead heading into the 4th inning. Enriquez also nailed a Stingers baserunner with a brilliant back pick to 1st base in the 5th inning.
The Stingers picked up 2 more runs in the top of the 4th when Cal Evers and Brandon Bohning scored on a 2 RBI single from Daniel Walsh to regain the lead at 3-2. Evers and Bohning both advanced into scoring position when Evers successfully stole 3rd base which allowed Bohning to advance to 2nd base.
Evan Yedinak would come in to relieve Huskies starter Troy Newell in the 6th inning. Newell exited with 3 runs given up on 4 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4. Huskies shortstop Nic Kent made a fantastic play in the 6th when he slid to his left and fired to 1st to get the second out of the inning. But shortly after Andrew Lucas would come in to score on a 2 out RBI single from Daniel Walsh to put the Stingers up by 2. Sam Baier and Daniel Walsh would then come across and push it to 6-2 Willmar. Logan VanWey would replace Yedinak in the top of the 7th inning and struck out the side.
Jake Marsh would come in to relieve Tyler Bosma in the 6th inning. Bosma had a fantastic outing striking out 7 Huskies and gave up just 2 runs on 4 hits across 5 IP. Marsh would go on to pitch a scoreless 6th inning.
Matt Hogan started a little rally in the 7th inning when he cruised a triple into the left-center gap and then came home on a Lance Ford single. Ford would then steal 2nd and advance to 3rd on a throwing error from Stingers catcher Cal Elvers but couldn’t be brought across home plate. The score would be 6-3 Stingers heading into the 8th inning.
Willmar would put up 2 runs in the 8th inning to make it 8-3. James Gamble and Sam Baier led off the inning with back to back triples to deep right field over the head of Ian Jenkins, who made his Duluth Huskies debut tonight.
The Huskies would attempt a comeback in the bottom of the 9th when Nic Kent smacked a 2 out single into right-center scoring Milan Walla and Matt Hogan. Hogan was tonight’s Husky of the game as he was 2 for 3, and scored 3 runs in the loss.
The Huskies will face the Stingers once again tomorrow night at Wade Stadium with first pitch set for 7:05 pm. Remember to follow the Huskies on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
###
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.
