Huskies win 4^th straight to improve 2^nd half record to 7-4

Ryne Ryskoski

Duluth, Minn — The Huskies are fresh off a two-game sweep of the Thunder Bay Border Cats and have returned home to Wade Stadium for a weekend series versus the La Crosse Loggers before the All-Star break begins on Monday. Schuyler Hill started on the mound for the Huskies in his 2^nd start and faced Samuel Torsey of the Loggers.

Back to back walks and an error would load the bases with no outs for Max Guzman, and a wild pitch on the first pitch of the at-bat allowed leadoff hitter Lance Ford to score and make it a 1-0 game in the 1^st inning. Tappen would nearly hit a grand slam over the wall in centerfield, but the ball stopped just short of the warning track into Cody Jefferis’ glove for the 1^st out. Nic Kent scored on the Tappen sac fly though to give Duluth an early two-run lead.

Schuyler Hill pitched very well to begin his 2^nd start of the summer, allowing just one Logger to reach base on a walk through the first 4 complete innings. He featured a fastball, curveball, slider, and a changeup to Loggers hitters to keep them off balance and guessing at the plate.

After Lance Ford flew out to lead off the bottom of the 3^rd Nic Kent laced a line drive single into right-center field that the centerfielder bobbled, allowing Kent to get to 3^rd on the play. He would immediately be brought home to make it a 3-0 game with an RBI single from Kyle Jacobsen, who made his Huskies debut in tonight’s game.

Samuel Torsey would exit after the 3^rd inning ended and was relieved by Steve Bowley to begin the bottom half of the 4^th. Coming into tonight’s games, Bowley had made three separate appearances ad gave up zero runs and just one hit.

Schuyler Hill threw four complete no-hit innings but would surrender his first in the top of the 5^th inning when JT Schwartz singled to lead off the inning. A Hunter Watson walk and a Trey Harris fielder’s choice would put two runners in scoring position for Matthew Stinebiser with one out, who eventually went down swinging for the 2^nd out. And the 3^rd out came on a groundout to the right of 2^nd baseman Lance Ford that Max Guzman had to completely stretch out on the throw to grab.

Nic Kent got his 2^nd hit of the night when he led off the bottom of the 5^th with an infield single and later on stole 2^nd for his 25^th of the season which leads the Huskies by a fairly wide margin. But Bowley kept the game at 3-0 when he recorded two straight outs on a groundout and flyout.

The Loggers built off their momentum in the top of the 6^th when a leadoff walk and two straight singles put men on all bases with no outs. But Tony Bullard hit a short groundball in front of the Catcher Collin Hopkins who went back to touch home for the force out and fired to 1^st for a double play. The score would then stay at 3-0 after JT Schwartz flew out to left field to end the inning.

Both teams went scoreless in the 6^th inning and Owen Meaney took the mound as the 7^th frame got started to try and keep the three-run lead intact. He would set down the La Crosse side in order with two swinging strikeouts and a groundout. Lalo Porras entered the ballgame as he became the 3^rd La Crosse Pitcher in the bottom half of the 7^th. Porras last pitched against Duluth on June 18^th and threw 2.2 scoreless relief innings.

Kyle Jacobson drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the 7^th to bring up Guzman who was hit by a pitch. Both men then stole 2^nd and 3^rd to put runners in scoring position with one out for Alex Tappen who hit a 2-RBI bloop double over the head of Jack Filby that both Guzman and Jacobson managed to score on, making it a 5-0 game. Xavier Bussey kept the offense going with a line drive off of Porras’ hand that was scored as a single which Tappen advanced to 3^rd on. After a fielder’s choice, Bussey crossed home for Duluth’s 6^th run when Loggers Catcher Bo Xi Hsiao threw the ball into centerfield on a Preston Hartsell steal. The Huskies were busy on the basepaths as they ended up stealing 5 total bags in tonight’s game.

The 8^th inning saw no runs scored for either team as Jack Corbell took the mound for Duluth in the top of the 9^th to shut down La Crosse and win game one. The Loggers would get a couple men on but Corbell struck out Xi Hsiao to end the game and give Duluth a 1-0 series lead.

Schuyler Hill’s start tonight was one of the more efficient and clean games pitched by a Husky this season, allowing just 3 hits in 6 innings while striking out 4. After a rough outing in his last outing, he said that “getting back into a routine” was what gave him confidence tonight. With the All-Star break coming up and getting a bit of time off, he noted that tonight was “a good way to build confidence for the next start. I feel like I’m back in my routine.”

The Huskies face the Loggers once again tomorrow night in game two of the series. First pitch is set for 3:05 pm with live game coverage on 92.1 The Fan and twinportssportshub.com beginning at 2:55 pm. All Duluth Huskies and Northwoods League games are live streamed online at portal.stretchlive.com/nwl to watch.

Be sure to follow the Duluth Huskies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat all season long. Check out duluthhuskies.com for tickets to upcoming games. For more in-depth news on the Huskies, be sure to follow @XtraInningsWithRyne and @JoeChatzHuskies on Facebook.

 

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The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 26th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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 200 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.