ROCHESTER, Minn. – A pair of back-breaking errors in the seventh inning spelled defeat for the Duluth Huskies (4-7, 20-26), as they fell 5-3 on the road to the Rochester Honkers (9-3, 28-18).

Rochester starter Alito McBean and the Huskies’ Devin Doyle both worked around leadoff baserunners in the first to post scoreless innings. Rochester nicked Doyle first, with Nick Bowron recording an RBI sacrifice fly in the second. Duluth responded in the fourth, with Kayden Campbell walking and moving to third on a Jalen Smith single. Dax Hardcastle pushed across a run with a productive groundout, and George McIntyre gave the Dogs a 3-1 lead with a towering two-run home run to right-center.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Honkers got to Doyle again, stringing together three two-out hits to plate two runs and tie the game at three. McBean was perfect in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, to set up the Honkers with a chance to pull ahead in the last of inning seven. Reliever Jude Sundquist walked the leadoff batter, and Matt Maize reached on a two-base infield error. Angel Santiago gave Rochester the lead with a sacrifice fly, and Maize scored on a throwing error when the ball came back to the infield. With the Honkers up 5-3, Vaughn Johnson relieved McBean, who had thrown 7.0 two-hit, three-run, five-strikeout innings. Johnson faced the minimum in the eighth and ninth to earn the save.

Campbell finished 1-for-2 with two walks and a run. McIntyre’s home run was his fourth.

Doyle worked 5.0 innings, conceding three innings and fanning five. Sundquist took the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) in 1.1 innings. Devin Costa worked the final 1.2 frames, going hitless and scoreless.

On Deck

Duluth contests the rubber match of its series against Rochester tomorrow at Mayo Field, with first pitch coming at 6:35 p.m.