Huskies edge out Thunder Bay in game one
Duluth, Minn — Tonight the Huskies kicked off their 2nd straight home series against the Thunder Bay Border Cats after splitting with the Bismarck Larks. Yesterday the Larks featured an early offensive attack against Cole Milam and Dan Jansen to score 8 runs through the first 3 innings. The Huskies came back to score 5 in the 6th inning, but they couldn’t get 3 more runs the rest of the game as Bismarck came out victorious 11-5. Colton Williams would start in his 2nd game as a Husky against Peyton Burks of Thunder Bay.
A routine error by CJ Breen at 3rd allowed Channy Ortiz to score the first run for the Huskies, and a passed ball on the 4th ball to Max Guzman allowed Kyle Jacobsen to cross home with still one out in the inning. Two more runs scored on a fielder’s choice and a bases-loaded walk to Collin Hopkins with two outs, making it a 4-run lead for Duluth through 3 innings.
The Border Cats came back to score four runs in the top half of the 4th to tie things up. Ryne Edmondson started the run-scoring with a two-run double and was followed up by CJ Breen and Nate Soriano who hit consecutive RBI singles.
Brendan Cindric came in to relieve Peyton Burks for the 4th inning, who last threw against Duluth a week ago and gave up 2 runs in a third of an inning. He’d allow the bases to get loaded with two outs after Kyle Jacobsen stole 2nd and 3rd but struck out Aaron Greenfield to keep the score knotted up at 4.
Owen Meaney made his 2nd consecutive appearance out of the bullpen in the 5th to relieve Colton Williams who allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, walked 2 and struck out 2 over 4 innings. Edmondson drew a full-count RBI walk with the bases loaded that scored Conor Allard to grab a 5-4 lead for Thunder Bay, and a sac fly from Breen extended their lead to 2.
The Huskies loaded the bases once again in the 5th, this time for Alex Tappen who put a jolt into a 1-2 fastball over the left-field fence for the first Huskies Grand Slam of the Summer. That was Tappen’s 2nd straight home game with a round-tripper and it gave Duluth the lead once again at 8-6. “In that situation with two strikes, you’re just fighting off the tough pitches. I was ready for that fastball and was able to get a mistake and do damage with it.”
After Anthony Galati drew a one-walk, Owen Meaney was replaced on the mound by Mason Bryant. Coming into Thursday’s game, Bryant had not given up a run in three straight appearances out of the bullpen. Conor Allard was his first opponent and lifted a base hit into left field, but Bryant struck out the next two men to end the frame.
Triston Lundgren came in as the Thunder Cats 3rd pitcher for the 7th and struggled as he walked two men and committed a balk to load the bases with no outs. Max Guzman scored Ortiz from 3rd with a sac fly, and Zimmerman struck out to end the inning with Duluth in front 9-6 as Jack Corbell took the mound for the 8th inning.
The Border Cats scratched across their 7th run on a passed ball that allowed Karston Vasquez in the top of the 8th to cut Duluth’s lead to two but Corbell worked a six-out save to win by a final of 9-7.
The Huskies go for the sweep 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.
###
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.
