The Huskies win against St. Cloud 8-7.
John Kuziej, john.kuziej@gmail.com
Duluth, Minn. – With the season coming to end and a tight race for the second playoff spot in the balance, Duluth needed a win. Manager Marcus Pointer turned to his ace Will McEntire, who came into this game with a 5-0 record this season. McEntire was marvelous, throwing 113 pitches on the afternoon. His final line was 6.2 innings pitched giving up four runs and striking out seven. None more important though, than the last batter he faced with the bases loaded and only one out. McEntire struck out Otto Kemp looking for a big out number two.
The Huskies offensive was impressive early on in the ball game, hanging four on the Rox in the second inning. With the bases loaded and nobody down, Calyn Halvorson, the birthday boy, came up and continued his dominance of late, singling into center and scoring the tying run. Jake Brill then came up and an error by Rox shortstop Brice Matthews saw the Huskies take the lead. When the dust settled the Huskies were leading 4-1.
In the fourth, the Rox answered with three runs to tie the game up at four. However, the Huskies answered right back when it was their turn with a three-run double by Bryan Broecker, giving them the lead right back 7-4.
The Rox continued to chip away at the lead and were able to tie the ball game up in the eighth off the Huskies bullpen getting a double down the left field line by Andrew Pinckney.
With the way this game was going there was a feeling the Huskies were not done quite yet. In the bottom of the eighth the Huskies responded right back with Brill singling and Broecker doubling once again. The Huskies were in business with one down and two on. Michael Brooks came to the plate and did his job getting a sac fly and an RBI as Brill scored to give the Huskies a lead 8-7.
In the top of the ninth, Michael Sarhatt got the ball for his first save of the season. Sarhatt shut the door and the Huskies got an all-important win with six games left.
The Huskies improve to 14-14 in the second half and the Rox fall to 22-8. The Huskies will be back in action tomorrow at 6:35pm in Duluth, Minnesota for a brand-new series against Willmar.
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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.
