ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Duluth Huskies lodged their second smash-happy victory in a row over the Rochester Honkers by a score of 14-7 on Sunday night.
The good times started early for the Huskies, as Kade Thompson laced a one-out single in the top of the first. Michael Smith followed suit with a single of his own, moving Thompson over for Noah Furcht.
Furcht wasted no time in delivering the first Duluth run of the evening, roping a single to right that scored Thompson. The Huskies took an early lead, 1-0.
In the top of the fourth, defensive replacement Nolan Barry hit for Jackson Rains, and instantly succeeded in doubling the dogs’ lead. Blasting a ball to left, the tight dimensions of Mayo Field in Rochester couldn’t contain it. It was Barry’s first home run of the season, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead.
Just two batters later, Duluth did it again. This time, Zan Von Schlegell from the nine-hole ripped a shot to deep center field to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, Huskies starting pitcher Danny Hesse began to run into trouble. A pair of singles by Maddox Haley and Tommy Eisenstat set up Brandon Contreras to drive in a run on a fielder’s choice. The Honkers were on the board, at a 3-1 score.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Honkers took the lead on a Haley home run, his second of the series against Duluth. The three-run bomb flipped the game on its head, giving Rochester a sudden 4-3 advantage.
Rochester didn’t stop to take a breath in the sixth, as Payton Knowles blasted a 2-run homer of his own that bolstered the Honkers’ lead to 6-3.
In the top of the seventh, back-to-back walks drawn by Smith and Furcht allowed Trey Craig to exercise the clutch gene again, dropping a ball in the left field gap to score Smith. A line drive knock by Barry then brought in Furcht, and a masterful safety squeeze bunt by Elijah Fairchild tied the game as Craig came in to score.
Von Schlegell followed Fairchild, and raked a shot down the left field line, rolling all the way to the wall to allow Barry to score the go-ahead run. Smith, who led off the inning, walked with the bases loaded for the cherry on top of the five-run inning.
A controversial call at third base in the bottom of the seventh allowed a run to score, making the score 8-7, but Craig got that run right back in a big way. The Huskies first baseman blasted a ball way over the left field wall to return the two-run lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Huskies brought in James Rheaume, fresh off his best outing of the season. In trouble with runners at the corners, he faced Huskies-killer Maddox Haley and elicited a ground ball that was played perfectly by shortstop Elijah Fairchild on the run to get the third out.
In the top of the ninth, Noah Furcht tore the cover off of a baseball to left field, giving the Huskies an additional insurance run to enter double-digit territory, 10-7. Later in the inning, Ethan Casas-Wu pinch hit for John DiGregorgio and loaded the bases with a single and two outs. Just seconds later, Fairchild hit a grand slam off the siding of the apartment complex beyond right field. The Huskies got more insurance than they could have imagined, leading 14-7 in the final frame.
Simon Murray entered the game for the Huskies, hoping to lock down the victory. Despite a bit of traffic, he accomplished that goal brilliantly to give the Huskies their first ever back-to-back victories on the season.
On Deck
The Huskies, now 5-9, will return to Wade Stadium for a two-game set against the struggling Minot Hot Tots, starting at 6:35 p.m.