Six-Run 6th inning for Thunder Bay Downs Duluth
Duluth, Minn — The Duluth Huskies and the Thunder Bay Border Cats faced off Friday night in game two of the two-game series. Duluth took game one by a score of 8-4 on Thursday night to take a 1-0 series lead. Dane Morrow took the mound in his 6th start of the year to face Thunder Bay’s starter, Joe Moran.
The Huskies loaded the bases with no outs for Ramon Enriquez in their half of the 1st inning on a Meckler double, a Ford walk, and a Guzman HBP. He would hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Meckler to score and give Duluth a 1-0 lead. Meckler continued to stay hot at the plate coming off of a 4-hit performance in Thursday’s game. He would go 2-2, walk twice, and score a run in tonight’s contest. Joe Moran was able to minimize the damage however by getting a groundout and a pop out to end the inning.
Thunder Bay scored their first run of the game in the top of the 2nd to tie it at 1 with a Thomas Grilli RBI single that scored Andrew Shebloski from 2nd base. Dane Morrow would go on to retire the next six straight Border Cats to keep the score locked at 1-1 through the first 4 innings. Justin Moore would come in to relieve Morrow in the 5th inning due to a pitch limit. He finished with one run to his name on 2 hits, one walk, and 5 strikeouts. Thunder Bay would proceed to put up their 2nd run of the evening on a sac fly from Nate Soriano that scored Thomas Grilli.
Andrew Shebloski was able to extend the Border Cats’ lead to 3 when he tripled home Conor Allard and Alexander Hernandez in the 6th inning. Thomas Grilli then brought Andrew Shebloski home afterward with a sac fly to Matt Hogan in left field to make it 5-1 advantage Thunder Bay. Three more runs would be scored by Thunder Bay from an error, a triple, and a single. Duluth struggled to get runners in scoring position after scoring in the 1st inning, with just 3 Huskies reaching base from the 2nd inning through the 5th inning. Tim Holdgrafer would make his 5th appearance of the season in the 7th inning, replacing Justin Moore. Moore gave up 7 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits and walked 3 over 2 innings. Holdgrafer threw a scoreless 7th inning.
The Huskies threatened to score in the bottom of the 7th after they got two men on base but failed to bring any of them in. Owen Meaney would be the 4th pitcher of the ballgame for Duluth when he took the mound in the 8th inning and set down the side in order in his 5th season appearance.
Joe Moran was replaced by Aaron Kern as the 8th inning began. Moran pitched a gem, allowing just one run on 5 hits, walking 4, and striking out 4 over 7 innings. Kern allowed a hit but immediately induced a double play to send the game to the final frame. Matt Hogan would take the mound in the top of the 9th for Duluth and give up a leadoff ground-rule double to Joe Jiminez but would strand him after recording 3 straight outs to give the Huskies one last chance in the bottom of the 9th.
Aaron Kern would give up a single but to Christian Kirkley with two outs but get the 3rd out to seal the 8-1 win for Thunder Bay.
The Huskies hit the road this weekend for a two-game set against Eau Claire. First pitch tomorrow night 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.