BOX SCORE – Thunder Bay 3, Huskies 2
The Duluth Huskies nearly completed another multi-run comeback Monday night but came up just short in a, 3-2, defeat against the Thunder Bay Border Cats at Wade Stadium.
The Huskies (20-20, 3-3) fell behind early to the Border Cats (23-17, 5-1) and couldn’t find the offense needed to overcome the deficit.
Thunder Bay scored all three runs off of Duluth starting pitcher Devin Dodson. The starter still posted a solid line – 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K – but the Huskies offense didn’t score through six innings.
Part of that was due to Turner Spoljaric. The former Oregon Duck was dealing, making it through six scoreless innings on 65 pitches. He fanned five Huskies and allowed just three hits in the process.
Then, with Thunder Bay in front, 3-0, the rain hit. Some stormy weather passed through the area and the game was put on pause until the rain passed.
When the game resumed, new pitchers came in for each side. Thunder Bay’s Griffin Catto and Duluth’s Myles Standish.
Catto came into the game and immediately the Huskies jumped on him. A single by Charlie Sutherland led the inning, extending his active hit streak to 11 games. After a walk to Joe Vos, back-to-back RBI singles by Jake Downing and Joe Vos pulled the Huskies within one, 3-2.
On the other side, Standish faced traffic, but did put up three zeros to give the Huskies a chance in the ninth.
After a strikeout from Vos, the bottom third of the Huskies order loaded the bases with three consecutive singles. The top of the order came to the plate with one out and the go-ahead run just 90 feet away. However, Joshua Duarte’s first strikeout of the summer and Tyler Palmer flying out ended the threat and the game, giving Thunder Bay the two-game sweep.
Along with Sutherland, Downing (2-for-4, RBI) also extended an active hit streak with his now six games long.
Up Next
The Huskies hit the road for four games in three days coming up. Duluth first heads to first-half champs La Crosse to take on the struggling Loggers, off to an 0-5 start in the second half. First pitch for Tuesday night is scheduled for 6:35 pm.