Published On: June 8th, 2019

Duluth improves to 7-5

Ryne Ryskoski

Duluth, Minn — The Duluth Huskies and the Willmar Stingers faced off Saturday night at Wade Stadium in the last of a quick two-game series. The Stingers took game one last night by a score of 8-5.

There was a controversial play in the bottom of the 1st inning when the Stingers Centerfielder James Gamble made a nice sliding catch running towards the wall. The Huskies bullpen who had a good view of the play were claiming that the ball fell out of his glove, which would have given the Huskies a 1-0 lead. But the umpires would rule that it was an out.

The Huskies got the first run of the game to make it 1-0 in Duluth’s favor when Nic Kent scored on a throwing error from Stingers Catcher Cal Elvers after he stole 3rd base. Kent got on earlier in the inning when he singled off of Stingers Starting Pitcher Evan Furst.

Evan Furst would be replaced by Bryant Claunch in the bottom of the 5th after giving up 2 runs on back to back singles from Dexter Swims and Noah Marcelo that scored Tyler Lozano and Matt Hogan. Furst gave up 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and struck out 3. Duluth would enter the second half of the contest with a 3-0 lead.

Huskies Starting Pitcher Dane Morrow would be replaced by the hard-throwing Mason Bryant in the top of the 8th inning after throwing 7 fantastic scoreless innings. He gave up 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 Stingers. He also made an amazing diving catch on a bunt pop up and fired it back to Ramon Enriquez at first to get a critical double play. The score would stay intact with the Huskies remaining in front 3-0.

The Stingers scratched across their first run of the night in the top of the 8th when Daniel Walsh scored on a Brandon Bohning RBI single to cut the Huskies lead to 2. Andrew Lucas would take advantage of a balk and 2 passed balls to make it 3-2 Duluth in the bottom of the 9th. But that would be it as Mason Bryant struck out 3 in a row to get the save and the win. Bryant finished the day with 5 strikeouts across 2 IP. He topped out at 95 mph.

Vanderbilt OF Matt Hogan, coming off of his 3rd multi-hit game in the last 4 days, says that “finding a tempo” against the pitcher has led to his recent success at the plate. Matt and Huskies Hitting Coach Stu Pederson have been working on his swing diligently the last week or so. “He’s been very instrumental. We go back and forth and we’re always talking about ways to improve”, says Hogan.

The Huskies will face the La Crosse Loggers tomorrow afternoon at Wade Stadium with first pitch at 3:05 pm. Follow the Duluth Huskies on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to stay up to date on all Huskies news.

 

###

 

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.

Latest News