DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth Huskies walked-off the Rochester Honkers on Sunday, securing their second sweep of the season against them already.
After the two game set between these two squads resulted in 40 combined runs last weekend, there was a much different flavor to the past two contests. Following the 4-1 victory on Saturday, the Huskies and Honkers were locked in another pitcher’s duel on Father’s Day.
The Danny Hesse vs. Gaines Estridge pitching rematch was terrific through the first three innings, with only four combined hits and no runs coming across. The Honkers were ultimately the first to score off Hesse in the fourth.
A two out walk worked by Tommy Eisenstat started the rally for Rochester. Jackson LaLima and Keegan Landis followed with back-to-back doubles to score a pair and take a 2-0 lead. The Huskies found themselves playing from behind once again.
Still leading 2-0 after five innings, the Honkers decided to tack on an insurance run in the sixth against Huskies reliever Nick Terhaar. With one down in the inning, Honkers cleanup hitter Joel Roberts never stopped running from second base on a double play attempt. The Huskies defense wasn’t quite able to turn two, and Roberts made them pay, racing home for the third Honkers run.
Meanwhile, the Huskies potent offense could not get anything going against Estridge. The Air Force Academy product threw seven shutout innings against Duluth, allowing only five baserunners all start. It wasn’t until Estridge was removed from the ballgame that the Huskies made their push.
After Terhaar’s scoreless seventh inning, and Cole Kenyon’s scoreless eighth, the Huskies offense took advantage of the Honkers bullpen. Kade Thompson began the bottom of the eighth with a single, later moving to second on a Tommy Farmer walk.
With two outs and Michael Smith approaching the plate, the Honkers put in Diego Luzardo, a righty from the University of Houston. Smith was not deterred. He roped a single to left field, scoring Thompson and advancing Farmer to third. The very next pitch Luzardo threw went straight to the Wade Stadium backstop. Farmer flew home to draw the Huskies to within one run.
Sensing how impactful another shutdown inning would be, Marcus Pointer called upon Parker Thomas. The right hander has been dominant out of the pen all season long, and he continued that streak in the ninth. Thomas struck out two in the inning, firing up the Huskies dugout and swinging the momentum pendulum fully to Duluth’s side.
Making his Husky debut, Paul Contreras started off the inning with a clutch single to right. Trey Craig followed suit, lining a base hit to left and giving the Huskies two baserunners in the blink of an eye. Now in a textbook bunt situation, it was Kade Thompson’s turn. The Huskies catcher squared around, popping up the pitch a third of the way down the third base line. Three Honkers defenders converged, none of them able to make the catch. Duluth had them loaded with nobody out.
Following a strikeout of hot-hitting Zan Von Schlegell, the Huskies batting order returned to the top and Tommy Farmer. On a 1-1 count, Luzardo balked at the worst possible time. Every runner moved up an extra 90 feet, including Contreras, the tying run.
It wouldn’t take long after that for Farmer to shoot a ball past the drawn-in infield, securing the 4-3 walk-off win in just his third game of the summer.
On Deck
The win and sweep over the Honkers was huge, getting the Huskies over .500 for the first time all season as they get set for a long road trip. The first four games of the week will be against the Hot Tots in Minot, a team the Huskies just swept at home.