DULUTH, MN – The Duluth Huskies notched a big bounceback victory over Rochester, beating the Honkers by a 12-2 final score at the Wade.
Danny Hesse went to the hill for Duluth, his third outing in a row against the geese. Having pitched five innings of two-run ball against Rochester in his last start, he kept right on pace in his third outing.
Wiggling out of some one-out traffic, Hesse elicited a pop-up to second before finishing his own inning with a groundout to the mound.
It didn’t take long for the first Duluth runs to come across. Centerfielder Michael Smith and third baseman Ethan Surowiec traded places on back-to-back doubles, plating a run in the first inning.
In the second, the dogs added on; a four-run inning was capped by Ethan Surowiec’s three-run bomb to left. New Huskie Jake Downing scored in the inning, alongside shortstop Elijah Fairchild, Michael Smith, and Surowiec himself.
In the top of the third, Rochester got on the board as Allan Camarillo reached and advanced to second on a throwing error by Elijah Fairchild. He came across to score on a sacrifice fly by Maddox Haley.
The Huskies got the run right back, as Reagan Reeder walked to begin the frame before Kingsley Guthrie roped a double down the line to score him. Guthrie, another new member of the Duluth squad, was making his first start as the Huskies’ backstop. The double was his first hit of the season.
The fourth was another big inning for Duluth, kicked off by Tommy Farmer’s double to left. Farmer was driven in by a Michael Smith RBI single in the next at-bat, followed by an Ethan Surowiec single for his third hit of the game. Surowiec was now just a triple away from the cycle. First baseman Trey Craig roped a single to drive in Smith, then Jake Downing earned an RBI base hit of his own to plate Surowiec.
After the first four innings of the game, the Huskies already led 9-1.
Nothing slowed for the Twin Ports Pups in the fifth, as they added on two more runs via Elijah Fairchild scoring on a wild pitch, followed by Tommy Farmer drawing a bases-loaded walk to make the score 11-1.
Danny Hesse exited after five innings pitched, allowing just one run to Rochester and eventually earning the win. It was his first pitching victory of the season.
Cole Kenyon pitched a scoreless sixth, before Duluth added a twelfth and final run on Kingsley Guthrie’s first Home Run in a Duluth uniform. The Murray State Racer annihilated a ball to left, well over the high wall at Wade Stadium.
The Rochester Honkers got their second run of the game in the eighth, with Peyton Knowles scoring on a Keegan Landis double.
James Rheaume pitched to the minimum in the top of the ninth, ending the game on a classic Duluth double-play, sealing a 12-2 victory in the series opener.
On Deck:
The Huskies continue their four-game set against Rochester tomorrow night at 6:35 at Wade Stadium. After that series, it’s a four-game home-and-home set against Eau Claire, beginning in Duluth on the 27th.