BOX SCORE – St. Cloud 0, Huskies 2
The Duluth Huskies shut out the St. Cloud Rox, 2-0, in the first half finale Tuesday night at Wade Stadium.
The Huskies (17-17) used a strong start from Colin Carney to shut down what had been a white-hot offense in the Rox (18-15) to finish the first half of the season off with a win.
The game was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel through six. Each team tossed up zeros in every frame. In the Rox’s case, starting pitcher Dallin Harrison was perfect through five and had a no-hitter going through six.
However, despite being at just 72 pitches, Rox head coach Nick Studdard lifted his starter. In came Ayden Decker-Petty, who had been pretty good entering play (0.82 ERA in 11.0 IP). But, in this particular outing, things went wrong almost immediately.
Decker-Petty’s first batter, Jake Downing, ended the no-hitter on a sharp single up the middle. He followed that up by allowing another base hit to MJ Sweeney. A double steal and sac fly by Reagan Reeder later, and the Huskies were on top, 1-0.
Carney started the top of the eighth, but after allowing a one-out single, departed the game. The final line: 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K. Isaac Rohde came in and got the Huskies out of trouble in the eighth.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Huskies added a massive insurance run. Jayden Duplantier picked up his sixth RBI of the season after incredibly legging out an infield single. The hustle play allowed the Huskies to lead, 2-0, as they tried to lock down their second shutout of the season.
Rohde and the Huskies defense sure made things interesting, loading the bases on a walk, single and an error. Rohde gave way for Albert Roblez, who induced a game–ending, 5-3 double play to seal the shutout.
With the win, the Huskies wrapped the first half at .500, 17-17. La Crosse took the first half playoff berth; now the standings reset and the second half gets going right away. The Bismarck Larks are in town for a two-game series starting tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 pm.
