DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth Huskies moved to 5-6 with a 5-2 victory over the Eau Claire Express, who fell to 4-7. The Diamond Dogs were aided by 5.2 1-run innings from Devin Doyle and three runs scored by Bjorn Lind on the offensive side.

 

Doyle loaded the bases in the first inning, but came up with an inning-ending strikeout to strand all three Express baserunners. Jesse Neretlis tossed a scoreless bottom of the first, and the two hurlers exchanged donuts in the second. After Doyle posted another zero in the third, Lind led off the last of the inning with a walk. Anthony Cepeda earned another free pass, and Blake Eckerle took a breaking ball off his shin to load the bases. George McIntyre cracked a sacrifice fly to left to plate the first run of the game, and Eckerle purposefully got himself into a pickle between first and second on a stolen base attempt, allowing Cepeda to score.

 

Doyle struck out a pair of batters across near-flawless fourth and fifth innings, and Lind dumped a one-out single into right with one out in the bottom of the fifth. An errant throw allowed Lind second base. Andrew Krupa blistered a double into left-center, but Lind was unable to score. It didn’t matter, as Cepeda mustered a productive groundout to allow Lind to tap home for a 3-0 Duluth lead.

 

A sixth-inning leadoff double for Hollon Brock would come around to score on a balk for Eau Claire, and the Express still had a runner on second and no outs. Doyle bore down and struck out two Express hitters, before being lifted for Jude Sundquist. Sundquist walked a batter before closing the frame with another strikeout, keeping the score at 3-1.

 

The Express pushed across another run in the seventh off Sundquist, and loaded up the bases with two outs. Sundquist blew a fastball by Anthony Martinez to strand the bases loaded once again and maintain a 3-2 edge. The Huskies used the opportunity to re-extend the lead, with Parker Kristall larruping a single to right to start the bottom of the seventh, Lind walking, and Krupa knocking in Kristall with a two-strike single to left. Lind would cross for the third time on another RBI groundout from Cepeda. Jacob Boland entered in the top of the ninth, and faced one more than the minimum across two innings to secure the save.

 

Doyle’s 5.2 innings included six hits, one run, two walks, and seven strikeouts, the most by a Huskie starter this year. Sundquist worked 1.2 innings, conceding two hits, three walks, and a run while fanning three. Boland’s 2.0 frames came with just one hit allowed and two strikeouts.

 

Cepeda scored once, stole home, and drove in two runs. McIntyre returned to the Huskies with a hit and an RBI. Lind went 1-for-1 with two walks and three runs. Krupa had a 2-for-3 line with a double and an RBI.

 

CJ Varsho stayed white-hot with a three-hit night. Brock also carded three hits. However, the Express stranded 11 runners in the game and dropped their second in a row.

 

On Deck

The Huskies conclude their two-game home series with Eau Claire tomorrow at 6:35 P.M. before heading to La Crosse for a pair of games.