Team effort propels Huskies to game two win

Ryne Ryskoski

Duluth, Minn — The Duluth Huskies defeated the Bismarck Larks on Sunday in an offensive slugfest by a score of 12-11. The two squads then faced off Tuesday evening after a very rainy afternoon that cleared up just in time for the second of the four-game series. Erik Kaiser took the mound for Duluth and faced Gavin Rogers of Bismarck.

The Larks put up one run in the top of the 1^st inning when Jack Chernow scored Wyatt Ulrich on a 2 out RBI single to centerfield that then put runners on the corners for Stephen Baughan. He was then hit by a pitch to bring Alex Peterson to the plate. He would line out to Nic Kent at Shortstop to end the inning.

They struck again in the 2^nd inning starting with a bases-loaded RBI fielder’s choice from Wyatt Ulrich that scored Damon Lux. The first 3 Larks that stepped to the plate all got on by a walk or hit by pitch. But a 1-4-3 double play would strand runners at the corners to make the score remain 2-0 in favor of Bismarck.

Bismarck continued to score the next inning when a bases-loaded hit by pitch brought in Jacob Rogers, making it 3-0. Damon Lux would be the 4^th Lark to be hit by a pitch in just 3 innings.

The Huskies would finally get their first hit of the ballgame off of Gavin Rogers in the bottom of the 3^rd inning when Wade Meckler doubled down the left field line. Collin Hopkins then made a terrific catch on a David Mendham pop up by the Larks’ dugout that led to Erik Kaiser’s first 1-2-3 inning.

Nic Kent led off the bottom of the 4^th inning with a double and came home to score the first run of the night for the Huskies on an error by the Shortstop Cooper Bowman. Noah Marcelo would hit an infield single later in the inning to put runners at the corners with 2 outs. Marcelo would purposely get into a rundown that allowed Carter Putz to score, making it 3-2 Bismarck as the 5^th inning began.

After Collin Hopkins flew out to start the bottom half of the 5^th inning, Xavier Bussey demolished an 0-1 slider over the left field fence in his Huskies debut to tie up the game at 3. The Huskies kept the inning going with back to back singles from Wade Meckler and Joe Casey to put runners at the corners with 1 out for Nic Kent. Kent would hit a Sac Fly to left field to score Meckler that gave Duluth their first lead of the game at 4-3.

Tim Holdgrafer came in to replace Erik Kaiser in the 6^th inning. Kaiser allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and struck out 4 through 5 IP. The Larks would be able to tie up the game at 4 when Zack Gregory scored on a Noah Marcelo error in left field. They then took the lead at 5-4 when Jacob Rogers singled home Wyatt Ulrich from 2^nd base.

Gavin Rogers would exit after throwing 5 innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits while striking out 4 Huskies. Evan Glew would take the mound in relief and allow no Huskies runs in the 6^th inning.

The Larks would score once again in the top of the 7^th run and take a 6-4 lead when Damon Lux scored from 3^rd on a double steal that moved Cooper Bowman to 2^nd base. After giving up a leadoff walk to Xavier Bussey to start the 7^th inning, Dominic Arias came onto the mound to try and silence Duluth.

But Ramon Enriquez would tie up the ballgame at 6 with a 2 RBI single into centerfield. Bismarck nearly escaped the jam with 2 straight strikeouts with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd. Evan Yedinak would come into pitch in the 8^th inning, replacing Tim Holdgrafer who allowed 3 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits and struck out 2.

Tyler Lozano led off the inning with a single and advanced to 2^nd on a balk from Dominic Arias. A Sac Bunt from Noah Marcelo would bring Lozano to 3^rd, and Collin Hopkins lifted a Sac Fly to right field to bring Lozano home and give the Huskies a 7-6 lead.

Evan Yedinak would get the 3 outs needed to earn the save and a 7-6 win for Duluth. The Huskies head into game 3 of the series tomorrow night with a 2-0 series lead.

Xavier Bussey hit a crucial home run back in the 3^rd inning that tied the game at 3 runs apiece. “I swung through a fastball on the first pitch and was just a little anxious, so I tried to stay back and see it and he hung an 0-1 slider and I just put a good swing on it.” Bussey also is excited for the opportunity to play in the Northwoods League this summer, saying “It’s just my first few days but I’ve learned a lot, there’s a lot of great players here so it’s going pretty smooth so far.”

The Huskies face the Larks at Wade Stadium once again 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.