St. Cloud bats couldn’t be contained as they combine for 11 hits

Ryne Ryskoski

Duluth, Minn — The Huskies and the Rox of St. Cloud faced off Monday evening in the first of a short 3 game homestand. The Rox took yesterday’s game by a score of 6-5 to take game one of a home and home series.

The Huskies got off to a quick start on offense in the bottom of the 1^st inning when Nic Kent launched a 2-run home run over the left field fence off of Rox starter Ben Dotzler to give Duluth an early 2-0 lead. Wade Meckler crossed the plate on the home run after he drew a walk to lead off the inning. Meckler and Kent were the main offensive powers for Duluth as they combined to go 4-8 and scored 2 runs, had 3 RBI’s, and walked once.

Garett Delano was able to cut the Huskies lead to 1 after he came home on a passed ball in the top of the 2^nd. He got the first Rox hit of the evening after sneaking a groundball past Huskies Third Baseman Justin Moore. Garrett Nielsen and Ben Carew continued St. Cloud’s scoring when they were able to put the Rox up 3-2 in the top of the 3^rd after they both scored on passed balls. Parker Smejkal then singled to shallow left field to bring home Brady Harlan to give St. Cloud a 4-2 lead.

Spencer Koelewyn left the game in the 3^rd inning after surrendering 6 runs (4 earned) on 3 hits and struck out 3. Brodie Paulsen appeared in relief for his 3^rd appearance of the season. St. Cloud continued to score when Hance Smith lined a double down the left field line that scored 2, making it 6-2 in favor of the Rox.

Zack Elliot scored the 7^th run of the game for the Rox after he easily came home from 3^rd on an error which would allow Ben Carew to come home on a Brady Harlan Sac Fly, stretching St. Cloud’s lead to 8-2.

Hance Smith and Garrett Nielsen both came around to score in the top of the 5^th inning on another Huskies error to get their 9^th and 10^th run of the evening, stretching their lead to 8 as the 2^nd half of the ballgame began.

The Rox continued to pour it on in the top of the 6^th when Jordan Barth and Garett Delano both scored on Sac Flies from Brendan Tinsman and Hance Smith to stretch St. Cloud’s lead to double digits at 10 This would be the 5^th straight inning St. Cloud scored at least one run. The Rox’s Starting Pitcher Ben Dotzler left after throwing 5 innings in which he gave up 2 earned runs on 4 hits and struck out 3. Lucas Gather threw 1.2 innings in relief and allowed one unearned run on 2 hits while striking out one in tonight’s game.

The Huskies scored their 3^rd run of the game in the bottom of the 7^th inning when Wade Meckler lifted a bloop single over the Third Baseman to score Matt Hogan who led off the inning with a single. Hogan went 2-4 and scored a run in tonight’s game.

Lucas Gather exited in the bottom of the 8^th as Rhyse Dee entered and threw 2 innings; allowing no runs while giving up 2 hits and striking out 3.

Danny Zimmerman replaced Brodie Paulsen and threw a scoreless 9^th inning. Paulsen threw 5.1 innings and allowed 6 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits and struck out 3.

Gather struck out the side in the bottom of the 9^th to secure the St. Cloud win over the Huskies by a score of 12-3.

The Huskies face the Bismark Larks tomorrow night with first pitch set for 6:35 pm with live game coverage on 92.1 The Fan and twinportssportshub.com beginning at 6:25 pm.

Be sure to follow the Duluth Huskies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat all season long and check out duluthhuskies.com for tickets to upcoming games. For more in-depth news on the Huskies, be sure to follow @XtraInningsWithRyne and @JoeChatzHuskies on Facebook.

 

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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.