Duluth wins fourth straight to stay atop North Division
The Duluth Huskies traveled north of the border to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada for a Friday night matchup with their rival the Border Cats.
Due to early walks by Thunder Bay (5-19), the Huskies (18-6) were able to take an early lead and never look back.
The scoring started in the first inning when General McArthur (Missouri Baptist) came into score after a stolen base, error and RBI groundout by Tony Monroy (Georgetown College).
Duluth extended the lead two innings later, when they struck for four runs against Thunder Bay starting pitcher Calvin Wood (Pepperdine).
Following a McArthur single, Wood walked four straight hitters before being removed from the game. A sacrifice fly from Trevin Esquerra (Loyola Marymount) made it 4-0 and, moments later; an RBI single by Julian Escobedo (San Diego State) gave Duluth a 5-0 lead.
The Border Cats offense responded positively in the bottom half of the third, striking for three runs of their own against Huskies starting pitcher, Andrew Stout (Liberty).
First, an RBI groundout by Brady Gulakowski (North Carolina State) put Thunder Bay on the board. Three batters later, Brandon Trammell (Tennessee) doubled in a runner to make it 5-2. The inning was capped off with an RBI single by Gunner Hellstrom (Nebraska), who finished 4-4 with two RBI’s on the night.
In the sixth, the Huskies added an insurance run on Esquerra’s second RBI sacrifice fly of the night, giving more breathing room to the Duluth pitching staff.
In the bottom half of the frame, relief pitcher Jack Corbell (Miami, Ohio) took over for Stout on the mound, making his Huskies debut.
Corbell tossed four innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits and striking out four Border Cats at the plate.
The Huskies put the game out of reach with an insurance run in the ninth thanks to an RBI single by Justin Mitchell (Oklahoma) to put Duluth up 7-4. Mitchell finished 3-3 with two walks, one stolen base, two RBI’s and two runs scored.
On the mound, Stout was awarded the win while Corbell was credited with a four inning save as the Huskies cruised to their fourth straight win and fourth against Thunder Bay in as many tries this season.
The 7-4 victory helped the Huskies improve to 18-6 overall this season heading into a weekend series in Willmar against the Stingers.
First pitch time tomorrow in Willmar is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Make sure to listen live to coverage of the game on 92.1 The Fan in and around Duluth.
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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
