Brilliant pitching from both teams leads to extra-inning thriller
Duluth, Minn – The Loggers and the Huskies faced off Friday night in game two of the two-game game series. La Crosse took game one in convincing fashion as their hitters went off for 14 total runs; 7 of which were scored by Ryan Holgate, who went 3-5 in the contest.
After neither team got a hit through the first inning and a half, Ryan Holgate continued to mash as he led off the bottom of the 2nd inning with a double off the top of the center field wall. But Austin Smith would get the next three batters out to strand Holgate who once again hit well getting 3 hits in 4 at-bats.
Through the first 4 innings of the game, both teams would only log two hits each and neither team could score as Zach Pronschinske and Austin Smith pitched cleanly their first couple times through the opposing team’s order. Noah Marcelo and Danny Zimmerman each got the two hits for Duluth while Ryan Holgate had both of La Crosse’s hits.
La Crosse threatened to score the first run of the night in the top of the 6th when they placed runners at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs, but Smith got Loggers’ Shortstop Jacob English to pop out to Ramon Enriquez at First Base to end the inning with the score deadlocked at zero.
Collin Hopkins, who made his Duluth Huskies debut tonight, would get to 2nd base after getting hit by a pitch and advancing on a wild pitch. Zach Pronschinske would then hand the ball to Lalo Porras in the 8th inning. Pronschinske gave up no runs on 3 hits while striking out 4. Hopkins would then take 3rd base on another wild pitch, the first runner in scoring position for the Huskies. But Hopkins would be thrown out attempting to come home on a Noah Marcelo flyout to centerfield to end the inning.
Keaton Carattini would then relieve Austin Smith in the bottom of the 8th inning. Smith and Pronschinske’s lines were nearly identical, as Smith gave up no runs and struck out 4 through 7 IP but gave up 3 hits to Pronschinske’s 5.
Jacob English doubled to lead off the inning, but Carratini would strand him there sending the 0-0 game to the 9th inning.
The Huskies got another shot at scoring as Lance Ford and Danny Zimmerman both drew walks to put runners at 1st and 2nd for Ramon Enriquez. But the Loggers would once again get a double play to halt Duluth’s hopes.
Carratini would then send the Loggers down in order in the bottom of the 9th to force extra innings.
Lalo Porras would exit the game and would be replaced by Jack Filby as the 10th inning got underway. Porras pitched 1.2 scoreless innings. Carter Putz would hit an RBI double to the centerfield wall that scored Ramon Enriquez from 2nd base to make it 1-0 in Duluth’s favor. Enriquez was placed at 2nd base as part of the new extra-innings rule that automatically places the last player who got out on 2nd base to start every extra inning. Tyler Lozano, who pinch hit for Justin Moore, made it 2-0 when he singled home Putz with a base hit to shallow center field. Meckler replaced Lozano on the bases and immediately swiped 2nd and 3rd base but would not score.
Jack Filby led off the bottom of the 10th with a single that put runners on the corners with no outs. Carratini would then get two huge strikeouts in a row and snagged a line drive back at him to seal the game with a final score of 2-0 and a win for the Huskies.
The Huskies face the Bismarck Larks tomorrow night. First pitch is set for 6:35 pm with live game coverage on 92.1 The fan and twinportssportshub.com beginning at 6:25 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.