The Huskies come all the way back to win 5-3 over Willmar.
John Kuziej, john.kuziej@gmail.com
Duluth, Minn. – The comeback kids are at it again. The game started with a pitchers’ duel between Ben Gerl and Sasha Jabusch, as they battled it out for much of the game. Gerl went six strong innings, striking out six and only giving up two earned runs, as Gerl continues to get better with each Huskies start. On the other side, Jabusch was just as dominate, as he went seven innings and only gave up one run.
The Stingers turned to their bullpen after Xavier Carter lead off the bottom of the eight with a double. Charlie Rhee then reached base on an error by the Stingers shortstop Jorge Lucero, and down by three with runners on the corners Michael Brooks stepped into the box. Brooks who leads the Huskies in home runs with four got a fastball up and did not miss it, driving the ball over the left field wall, just staying fair.
Suddenly we were tied at three and the monument of the game completely shifted. Ethan Hammerberg worked a one, two, three bottom of the eighth striking out two stingers in the process. Going into the top of the ninth the Huskies looked to take their first lead of the night.
Ambren Voitik started off the ninth with a single and later moving up to second on a wild pitch. With Brett Paulsen in a two strike count he made an extremely gutsy play laying down a bunt, but executed the play perfectly and Voitik moved up to third. Calyn Halvorson then laced a double down the left field line to score Voitik to take the lead 4-3. The Huskies added some insurance by way of back to back singles by Rhee and Brooks to lead 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth.
The Huskies turned to the Australian Richard Kiel who was going for his first save as a Husky. Kiel was nearly untouchable in the ninth as he struck out the Stingers two hitter Carter Howell who was a homerun away from the cycle to end it.
The Huskies improve to 10-9 in the second half and the Stingers fall to 9-10. The Huskies will be back in action tomorrow at 7:05pm in Willmar, Minnesota as they look to start the four game series 2-0.
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The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 27th 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, over 250 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB Gold Glove finalist and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. 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.