Eight-run 8th inning gets La Crosse a comeback win
Duluth, Minn — The Duluth Huskies and the La Crosse Loggers began the 2nd series between the two teams on a rainy Sunday evening at Wade Stadium. The game would be delayed for roughly 2 hours by rain after Cody Jefferis was walked to start the contest, but the umpires would decide to resume the game at 5 pm.
Trey Torain scored the first run of the contest in the top of the 3rd inning when Huskies Starting Pitcher Erik Kaiser issued a 2 out bases loaded walk to make it 1-0 Loggers early on.
Matt Hogan continued his hot streak when he singled to center to lead off the bottom of the 4th inning. He would be brought home right away on a Danny Zimmerman RBI double. Noah Marcelo then traded places with Zimmerman with another double. Lance Ford scored the last run of the inning when he singled home Noah Marcelo to put the Huskies ahead 3-1. The Huskies would already have 8 team hits at the end of the 4th inning.
The Loggers scratched across a run in the top of the 5th with a Ryan Holgate RBI single scoring Brett Hawkins to cut the Huskies lead to one.
Zach Pronschinske’s day would come to an end in the bottom of the 5th after giving up an Ian Jenkins RBI single that scored Ramon Enriquez from 2nd. Pronschinske surrendered 4 runs (1 earned) on 10 hits and walked 4 Huskies in 4 IP. He would be replaced by Jackson Shirley who left with an arm injury after throwing only 3 pitches. John Meyerring would come in to relieve Shirley on short notice and proceeded to give up 3 runs. Tyler Lozano scored on a wild pitch, Matt Hogan scored on a Brad Norton RBI single, and Bradley Zimmerman came home on a passed ball to make it 7-2 Duluth. Meyerring was replaced in the 7th by Cal Jarrett.
Jonathan Pierce came in to relieve Erik Kaiser in the top of the 6th. Kaiser left after 5 IP and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 4.
Duluth extended their lead to six in the bottom of the 7th when Danny Zimmerman hit his second RBI double of the day to drive in Matt Hogan. Hogan’s single earlier in the inning would make this his 4th multi-hit game in the last 5 days.
After Jake McDonald came in in the 8th to relieve Jonathan Pierce, the Loggers would get their first four batters on base via a walk, a single, a double, and a hit by pitch. TJ Byrd would be the one to score on a Tony Bullard RBI double to make it 8-3. Then Ryan Holgate hit a ground rule double which scored 2 more cutting the Huskies lead to 3. Holgate and Brady Allen continued the barrage of runs when they came home in the next plate appearance on a passed ball and a balk to make it 8-7 Duluth. Tim Holdgrafer would come in to relieve McDonald afterwards, but Cody Jefferis would smack a 2-run triple to right, giving the Loggers a 1 run lead. The next batter Brett Hawkins then gave the Loggers a 10-8 lead with a sac fly.
Neither team would score again as the La Crosse Loggers pulled out the miraculous comeback victory in a near 4-hour contest.
Game two of the series will take place tomorrow night with first pitch at 6:35 pm. Don’t forget to follow the Duluth Huskies on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to stay up to date on all things Huskies.
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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.
