Another tough week for the Huskies
Duluth, Minn — The quarter point of the season for the Duluth Huskies just wrapped up, and the team stands five games back from first place in the Great Plains East Division with an 8-17 record.
Last Friday’s game against the Eau Claire Express was postponed due to rain which meant a Saturday doubleheader between the two teams. A Lance Ford two-RBI double put the Huskies on the board in the top of the 3rd inning as he lined a ball down the left field line that drove in Nic Kent and Noah Marcelo. The Huskies added their third run of the game in the top of the 5th as a two-out Tyler Lozano single drove in James Free II. Eau Claire added one more in the bottom half of the 5th before the Huskies tied the ballgame at 4 following a Nic Kent RBI single. The tie ballgame would extend into an 8th inning, where an Aaron Greenfield RBI single gave the Huskies the lead. Dane Morrow had the start for Duluth and gave up 4 earned runs over 4.2 innings. Dan Hansen relieved Morrow and threw 2.2 scoreless innings. Jonathan Pierce got the win after shutting down the Express in the 8th inning to secure the Huskies victory in game one of the doubleheader.
In game two, the Huskies grabbed a big lead when they put up a 4 spot in the 4th inning, which turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead. Aaron Greenfield gave the Huskies the lead with a two-run single and then a Carter Putz bases-loaded walk would bring in one more to wrap up the scoring in the 4th. After the Express tied up the game, the Huskies took the lead in the top half of the 8th inning when Ramon Enriquez scored from third on a wild pitch. The tying run came in for Eau Claire on a throwing error by Nic Kent with runners on the corners and nobody out to tie it at 6 runs apiece. Three batters later, Matt Bottcher drew a game-winning bases-loaded walk that gave the Express a 7-6 walk-off victory to split the doubleheader.
Duluth then traveled to St. Cloud the next day for Father’s Day. The Huskies maintained an early lead until the 6th inning when two St. Cloud runs came across to score. St. Cloud took a 3-1 lead into the 7th inning, but a leadoff single from Carter Putz gave the Huskies a breath of life. After having fouled off a 2-2 curveball to give himself another opportunity, Ramon Enriquez lifted a Cam Kline pitch over 390 feet to left field for a game-tying homer, his 4th of the year. St. Cloud scratched 3 runs across afterward to take a 6-3 lead. Wade Meckler then led off the Huskies’ 8th with a double before stealing 3rd on the first pitch of the next at-bat. Kent took the following pitch to right field for an RBI single, driving in Meckler. A Putz infield-single would then drive in Kent to cut the St. Cloud lead to 1 run entering the bottom of the 8th. Alex Rao pitched a scoreless inning, and then a pinch-hitting Aaron Greenfield earned a two-out walk in the 9th before stealing 2nd and 3rd. After Meckler walked, Greenfield was thrown out trying to steal home to end the ballgame.
The Rox traveled to Duluth the next day for game two of the series. The Huskies got off to a quick start on offense in the bottom of the 1st 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. Garett Delano was then able to cut the Huskies lead to 1 after he came home on a passed ball in the top of the 2nd. The Rox proceeded to score 3 more runs in the inning to make it a 4-2 game. 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. St. Cloud then 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. The Huskies scored their 3rd run of the game in the bottom of the 7th inning when Wade Meckler lifted a bloop single over the Third Baseman to score Matt Hogan who led off the inning with a single. But Lucas Gather would strike out the Huskies side in the bottom of the 9th to secure the St. Cloud series sweep over the Huskies by a score of 12-3.
The Huskies remained at Wade Stadium for the next two days to play the Bismarck Larks. The Larks put up 2 runs on the Huskies in the top of the 1st inning on back-to-back RBI singles from Brian Leonhardt and Jack Chernow that scored Wyatt Ulrich and David Mendham. They were able to tack on one more in the 4th when Cooper Bowman came home on a wild pitch after he stole 2nd base and advanced to 3rd base on a passed ball. Duluth managed to get their first and only man in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the 6th inning but couldn’t capitalize. Then Zack Gregory and Wyatt Ulrich came around home for Bismarck after Jack Chernow hit a bloop double over Carter Putz’s head at 1st base to stretch Bismarck’s lead to 5-0. Evan Miller would then record three straight outs to secure the shutout win for Bismarck and take a 1-0 series lead over Duluth.
Game two of the series would be a much more tightly contested. Bismarck continued to hit the ball well at the start of the game when the 1 and 2 hitters Zack Gregory and Wyatt Ulrich scored on a David Mendham single to make it 2-0 early on. But the Huskies came roaring back right away in the bottom of the 1st starting with an RBI double from Ramon Enriquez that scored James Free II. Then Danny Zimmerman went to opposite field off the KIA billboard on a 2-run home run that put Duluth up 3-2. All three runs were scored with two outs. The Larks got back on the board in the top of the 3rd and regained the lead at 5-4. Wyatt Ulrich began the rally for Bismarck when he scored on an RBI single from Brian Leonhardt, followed by a Cole Taylor RBI single that scored David Mendham. Leonhardt then scored the Larks’ 5th run when he came home on a Huskies’ error. In the 8th inning, Bismarck would proceed to score their 6th run after Jacob Rogers found a space in the 5-6 hole to score Jack Chernow to stretch the Larks’ lead to 2. One more run was scored afterward when Rogers scored on an Alex Peterson single to make the score 7-4. Ramon Enriquez and Danny Zimmerman proceeded to draw back to back one out walks which led to Christian Kirtley getting his first hit and RBI of the season that scored Enriquez which cut the Larks’ lead to two. The Huskies would load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but Evan Miller would get a strikeout to win the game 7-6.
Yesterday Duluth faced the Loggers in La Crosse. The Loggers started fast in the 1st inning when their first three hitters reached base on a walk, a single, and a double. Schwartz would be picked off for the first out of the inning, but it wouldn’t matter much as Ryan Holgate gave La Crosse an early 2-0 lead on a 2-run double. After the Loggers put up one more run, Danny Zimmerman hit his 2nd home run in as many days in the top of the 3rd inning to cut La Crosse’s lead back down to 3 runs. Christian Kirtley would get on base with a walk but Landry Wideman induced a pop out and a double play to end the Huskies’ momentum. The beef of La Crosse’s batting order continued to excel with runners in scoring position as Brady Allen cleared the bags with a 2-run double to give the Loggers a 9-1 lead. Tony Bullard then smacked a solo home run, giving the Loggers their 5th run of the inning and extending their lead to 11. after Ramon Enriquez got on base in the top of the 7th inning with a single, Danny Zimmerman hit his 2nd home run of the evening to give Duluth 3 runs. In the 8th inning, La Crosse would load the bases with 2 outs for Ryan Holgate, who doubled home JT Schwartz and Jack Filby to make the score 14-3. Tyler Shingledecker allowed no Huskies runs in the top of the 9th inning as he secured the game one victory for the Loggers by a score of 14-3.
The Huskies face the Loggers in game two tonight. First pitch is set for 7:05 pm with live game coverage on 92.1 The fan and twinportssportshub.com beginning at 6:55 pm. All Duluth Huskies and Northwoods League games are live streamed online at portal.stretchlive.com/nwl to watch.
Be sure to follow the Duluth Huskies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat all season long. 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.
