GAME NOTES – GAMES 33-34 VS ST. CLOUD

Just two games remain in the first half for the Duluth Huskies as they welcome in the St. Cloud Rox to Wade Stadium to kick off a four-game home stand. The home stand is split up by the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half. Here are five more things to know and game notes packet (linked above) for the upcoming series with the Rox:

1. LAST TIME OUT: The Huskies made the return trip to Wausau for two games at Athletic Park, earning a split with the league-leading Woodchucks. The Huskies held down the Woodchucks offense in game one, thanks to a fantastic performance on the mound by Brayden Curtis. The Nebraska-Omaha product delivered eight innings of one run ball, scattering six hits and striking out five. The offense did enough on the other side, powered by a three-run sixth innings. In game two, the Huskies did not have the same success in limiting the Woodchucks offense. Wausau broke out to the tune of 15 runs, including scoring runs in each of the first six innings. They scored multiple runs in five of the first six frames, romping to a, 15-9 victory. The Huskies did have an eight-run fourth inning to briefly take the lead, but it would not be enough in the defeat.
2. STRIKE HARD, STRIKE FAST, NO MERCY: So far this season, the Huskies have had vast success when striking first and striking hard. This year, the Huskies are an impressive 11-3 when scoring the first run of the game. When outhitting an opponent for the game overall, Duluth is 11-2. The perfect example of that was the first series this season between the Rox and the Huskies. Over the course of the two games, the Huskies scored 16 runs in the first two innings, including a nine-run first inning in game two of the series at Joe Faber Field. Duluth eclipsed the double-digit mark in both games on the way to a series sweep.
3. HOME RUN HUSKIES: After hitting 60 home runs last season, fourth most in the league, the Huskies have started to rediscover that power stroke from last year. Since June 16, the Huskies have blasted 14 home runs to bring their total to 23 on the season. Two Huskies in particular have really come alive in that stretch. Reagan Reeder and MJ Sweeney have each hit four home runs over that stretch to combine for eight of the 14 for Duluth.
4. VOS THE BOSS: Joe Vos is looking to rediscover his opening season form and the last three games are certainly a step in the right direction in that regard. Throughout this three-game hitting streak, Vos is 6-for-13 with 4 RBI, 5 runs scores and a pair of walks. Last game in particular, Vos reached in five of his six plate appearances and belted his third home run of the season to the opposite field.
5. HOW THE ROX ARE ROLLING IN: St. Cloud comes into the series with the Huskies in a similar spot to Duluth: right there in the division but going to come up just short. The Rox are eliminated from first half contention; however, whereas Duluth played themselves out of the chance, the Rox have played excellent baseball down the stretch to even put themselves in that conversation. St. Cloud has won seven (7) of their past eight games played and a team that was once 10-13 is now 17-14. The team is coming off of a sweep of the struggling, road-only Minnesota Mud Puppies, outscoring them a combined 23-8. St. Cloud’s offense goes as their two best run-producers go: Jackson Hauge (8 HR) and Sawyer Smith (23 RBI). The two lead the Rox in home runs and RBIs respectively, but both hae been prone to struggles as each has a batting average below .250. As a team, St. Cloud is a run-and-gun team. They’ve swiped 90 bases, the fourth-most in the Northwoods League. Additionally, they’ve hit 25 home runs, the eighth-most. The pitching has been the strength of the Rox this season. The team ERA of 4.05 is the second-best in the NWL. On top of that, they strike out a lot of batters (301, 7th), don’t walk a lot of batters (155, 4th) and don’t give up home runs (11, 4th).