The Huskies fall to St. Cloud 10-4.
John Kuziej, john.kuziej@gmail.com
Duluth, Minn. – In a rainy and cold day in Duluth Oscar Lepe took the mound for his first start in a Huskies uniform. In slippery and cold conditions Lepe really battled on the bump against one of the best teams in the Northwoods League. Lepe went five innings giving up just three earned runs, striking out seven and only walking two batters. This performance can certainly give Husky fans excitement going into his next start.
The Huskies were hanging tough early on in the ball game, trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Huskies offense started to catch fire, as they batted around. Mike Boeve lead off the inning with an opposite field double off of the wall. Ryan McDonald then singled and one of the Huskies hottest hitters Calyn Halvorson continues to crush the ball. He doubled to the opposite field off the right field wall and Boeve scored with still nobody out the Huskies had runners on second and third.
Ambren Voitik then came up and drove in McDonald on a single to center and the game was tied. Halvorson then showed off the wheels as he scored on a wild pitch and the Huskies had the lead 4-3.
Lepe came out for a fifth inning of work and nearly was able to work out of trouble but with two outs an error by Huskies shortstop Dom Meza the Rox tied it up at four.
Going into the top of the sixth, Lepe’s night was done and the ball was turned over to the Huskies bullpen. The Rox then showed why they are one of the league’s best as they batted around in the inning and getting three extra base hits. It was capped off by Brice Matthews as he sent a ball well over the left field wall for a three-run home run to give the Rox a 10-4 lead.
At that point, the air went out of the stadium but the Huskies didn’t show any quit as their new pitcher Eric Nelson and Matthew Craven shut down the Rox for the remaining three innings. Unfortunately, for the Huskies the Rox bullpen was marvelous as they were able to dance out of some jams and see the game out at 10-4.
The Huskies fall to 13-14 in the second half and the Rox improve to 22-7. The Huskies will be back in action tomorrow at 1:05pm in Duluth, Minnesota as they look to get the split in this two game series against Rox.
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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.