Walks and late mistakes too much to overcome for Huskies
The Duluth Huskies looked spoil the grand opening of the new Franklin Rogers Park in Mankato Moondogs. Mankato grabbed the early lead in the first inning but Duluth evened the game up at one with a two-out RBI single from Omar Veloz. The game would remained tied until the sixth inning when Kyle MacDonald hit an RBI double with two outs in the sixth inning, that would give Mankato the lead that they would not relinquish. The Moondogs would add another run in the seventh, and three in the eighth to take a 6-1 lead. The Huskies would rally in the ninth to pull within three, but ultimately they would fall short as Mankato held onto win 6-3.
Zac Shoemaker started the game for the Huskies and pitched four strong innings where he picked up five strikeouts and finished strong after giving up a run in the first. His college teammate at Southern Missouri, Logan VanWey relieved Shoemaker in the fifth inning and pitched two innings, allowing one run and striking out two. Andrew Stout would come in and finish the last two innings for Duluth. Walks were an issue for the Huskies as the three pitchers combined for nine walks, which jumpstarted the Mankato offense. The Huskies and Moondogs will meet up again in Mankato on Wednesday, May 30 to finish off their two-game series to start the year.
###
The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Entering its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.duluthhuskies.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Huskies as your favorite team