Duluth’s bats came alive for seven runs, and good pitching gave the Huskies a big win against another top team.
The Duluth Huskies took down the Willmar Stingers by a score of 7-4 in the first end of a day/night doubleheader on Wednesday to maintain the lead in the North division. After a slow start, the Huskies’ bats came alive in the fifth inning to put away the Stingers.
Duluth had struggled against Willmar earlier this season, but those struggles were nowhere to be found today, rebounding after three straight losses against the Stingers for an important win over the fourth-place Stingers.
The Stingers scored in the top of the first to take an early lead. But the Huskies answered back in the second with an RBI single by Trevin Esquerra (Loyola Marymount) and took the lead in the third when Nick Sogard (Loyola Marymount) scored on an error after a stolen base attempt.
With the score tied in the bottom of the fifth, Justin Mitchell (Oklahoma) put the Huskies up for good with a two-run double to the right-center field gap. Esquerra earned his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly as Duluth ultimately scored four in the inning.
Troy Newell (Western Kentucky) gave the Huskies another quality start, pitching seven innings and allowing just two earned runs, his fourth start this season of at least five innings and two or fewer runs.
Overall, the Huskies slapped eight hits on the day, seven of which were singles, and drew nine walks on a great day for the offense.
The Huskies complete the double header at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday against the Stingers. Zac Shoemaker (Missouri Southern) will be on the mound for his fifth start of the season.
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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