The Duluth Huskies (16-20, 1-0 second half) defeated the Bismarck Larks (16-21, 0-1 second half) by a score of 9-5 on Wednesday thanks to a six-run sixth inning. The Huskies bullpen got back to its old ways, pitching seven shutout innings in relief of starter Ryan Cunningham (1-2).
Larks starter Ryan Byrd (2-3) earned a no-decision pitching 5.2 innings in which he gave up five earned runs, walked five Huskies, and struck out three. Piero Amador (3-1) earned the win for the Huskies, doing so in a scoreless long relief effort that spanned into the seventh. Losing pitcher and former Husky Jamie Kaye (0-2) had a tough homecoming, pitching 1.1 innings and giving up four earned runs on six hits.
The Larks jumped out to a quick lead on a Noah Sadler sacrifice fly that scored left fielder Connor Perry. The Huskies answered back in explosive fashion as former Willmar Stinger Rob Emery hit a two-run home run way over the left field wall in his fourth game as a Husky. Emery finished a triple shy of the cycle with two runs scored, two runs batted in and a walk.
Bismarck answered back with four of their own in the top of the second. Scooter Bynum led off the inning by reaching on an error by shortstop Chase Strumpf and scored along with teammate Newt Johnson when Luke Walked drove them in with a two-out, two-run single. Austin Paschke brought in two more as Connor Perry and Luke Waldek scored unearned runs on a fielder’s choice, ending Ryan Cunningham’s day.
The Larks would be held scoreless for the rest of the game as the first of the Huskies’ seven unanswered runs came on a two-out RBI double off the bat of Kyle Hubbuch, who finished the day with three hits, a walk and three RBIs.
With two outs in the sixth, the “Heart Attack Huskies” exploded and put the game out of reach. Ryan Byrd’s last pitch of the game was one that Isaac Collins hit up the middle to score Jack Stronach and bring the Huskies within one. Kaye allowed Collins to advance to third on a Rob Emery double. The last run charged to Byrd came in when Collins scored on a Jamie Kaye balk. With the ballgame tied, the hit parade continued. Jake Pries singled in Emery, Kyle Hubbuch followed it up with his second two-out RBI base hit, driving in Pries and Strumpf. Dean Nevarez, as the ninth of ten Huskies sent to the plate in the inning, singled in Hubbuch to end the offensive outburst.
Joe Gonrowski and Kevin Folman came in and did what they do best, making mincemeat of the Larks offense and sealing the win, putting an end to the Huskies’ four-game losing streak.
The Huskies and Larks will do battle again on Thursday before the Huskies head to La Crosse for a two-game set. Nick Scheidler (1-0) and Alex Ross (0-0) are the probable starters for Duluth and Bismarck, respectively.
