The Duluth Huskies defeated the Badlands Big Sticks, 10-9, in extra innings Monday afternoon at Wade Stadium in comeback fashion, erasing an 8-4 deficit in the process.
On Education Day at Wade Stadium in front of an announced 1,357, of which most were students and teachers, the Huskies put on a clinic in how to stay in a game and execute a comeback.
As has been the case this season with the Huskies against the Big Sticks, it was an uphill battle from the start. In a matchup of pitchers where neither Cale Haugen of Duluth, or Sam Nitzke of Badlands, had allowed a single run all season, it didn’t take long for that to change as the Big Sticks scored two in the top of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead.
The Huskies, which Nitzke faced in his only other start this season, finally got to him in the third on an RBI single by Boots Landry after MJ Sweeney doubled off of the wall in left and again in the fourth on a Joe Vos home run, the first at Wade Stadium this season.
After Nitzke departed, the Huskies took their first lead in over 30 innings against the Big Sticks after some Badlands mistakes loaded the bases. A walk to Vos and a sac fly by Sweeney later, and it was 4-3 Duluth.
That lead would be short-lived though as Badlands scored five times the very next half-inning to take an 8-4 lead into the late innings. That’s where the Huskies began to chip away, and Vos and Landry really shone.
First, Landry got a run across in the seventh on a groundout with the bases loaded. Then, in the ninth, with the Huskies trailing by three, the Huskies sent nine to the plate in tying the game at nine, with Vos getting an RBI single to kick off the scoring and the tying run coming home when Cardel Dick was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
In the 10th, the Big Sticks scored the bonus runner on two wild pitches by Huskies reliever Matthew Foley, but he was able to keep it at one. In the Huskies half of the tenth, Vos drove in the tying run with a double before Landry brought him home to win the game for Duluth, 10-9.
Vos (4 RBI) and Landry (3 RBI) combined for seven RBI in the win for the Huskies. MJ Sweeney also played a major role, going 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI as well.
With the win, the Huskies (5-3) avoided a season sweep at the hands of the Big Sticks and will take momentum into a huge next seven days. After the off day Tuesday, it’s a 2-2-2 road-home-road set with the Great Plains East leaders, Thunder Bay.
