Top of Thunder Bay’s order comes through with late offense
Duluth, Minn — Last night the Huskies fell to Thunder Bay 3-2 in extra innings for just their 2nd loss in the last 8 games. But with 5 of those wins being vacated due to roster violations, Duluth came into tonight’s game in 3rd place behind Eau Claire and La Crosse who stand in 1st place and 2nd place, respectively.
But with Travis Booth on the mound, who allowed just one run on 8 innings of work against La Crosse last Tuesday, the Huskies looked to get back on track and begin a playoff push with just 6 games remaining in the regular season. Nico Lima was in the lineup again after going 6-9 with a couple RBI’s and a home run over his last two games, as he and the rest of the Duluth lineup went up against Kyle Wellman of Thunder Bay.
Thunder Bay struck first again in today’s game with an RBI double from Joe Jimenez that scored Anthony Galati. Galati led off the inning with a single and looked to be tagged out trying to swipe 2nd but the ball came out of Noah Marcelo’s glove after the two collided, keeping Galati in scoring position while Marcelo was forced to exit the game. Thunder Bay scored again in the 3rd when Ryne Edmondson was able to score on Jakob Newton’s infield single to take a two-run lead. That single extended Newton’s hit streak to nine games.
But the Huskies came back in the bottom of the 4th to tie up the game 2-2 on back to back run-scoring singles from Danny Zimmerman and Nico Lima. A couple of wild pitches from Kyle Wellman allowed Huskies baserunners to move up into scoring position.
The 5th and 6th frames went scoreless as Travis Booth pitched through the bottom of the 6th for his final inning of work. He gave up two runs on four hits, walked three and compiled a whopping 13 strikeouts; a season-high for a Huskies pitcher in a single game.
Beau Wills was Booth’s replacement for the bottom of the 7th and struggled out of the gate to keep the game tied. He hit Noah Reed to lead off the inning who came home to take a 3-2 lead on JJ Rollon’s RBI single later in the inning. Ryne Edmondson then brought home Rollon to take a 4-2 lead on a sac fly after he advanced to 3rd on an error. The top of Thunder Bay’s order batted home three of their four runs and each recorded a hit in this afternoon’s game.
Kyle Wellman left the game in the 8th as the Border Cats’ most-used reliever Peyton Burks took over. Wellman tossed 7 strong innings in which he gave up two runs (one earned) on one walk and four strikeouts. Burks set down the Huskies in order in the 8th and worked around a leadoff walk to Aaron Greenfield in the 9th, but recorded three straight outs to get the 4-2 win for Thunder Bay.
The Huskies will now begin a two-game set against La Crosse 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.
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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.