The Huskies’ bullpen struggles during the last third against Willmar
Zach Linfield, zachlinfield@gmail.com
Duluth, Minn. — The Huskies opened their four-game home stand by welcoming the Willmar Stingers for their first contest of the season. After a strong start to the afternoon meeting, the Huskies fell apart late for the third time in as many days to fall to Willmar by a score of 11-4.
The Huskies were gifted another solid outing from starter Jonny Guzman (ND, 6.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7 K). Guzman had his usual plethora of fastball and off-speed rocking through the first six innings. The lone exception came in the 6th when William Hamiter (1-3, HR, 2 BB) floated a two-run home run to left, tying the game at 3-3 at the time. Duluth got the scoring started in the 1st and 2nd innings with RBI singles from Mike Boeve, Peyton Powell, and Charlie Rhee. The Huskies got their fourth run in the 6th, retaking the lead, when Bryan Broecker delivered a sacrifice fly to score Powell.
The unfortunate constant theme of this past week for the Huskies is the last game collapses. It was more of the same this afternoon. After Guzman departed, Manager Marcus Pointer handed the ball to lefty Oscar Lepe (L, 0-1, 0.1 IP, 5 ER, 1 H, 4 BB), making his Huskies’ debut. Lepe had a difficult time finding the strike zone after allowing a double to Jorge Lucero. Tyler Meyer allowed the rest of Lepe’ runs to score, plus one of his own. The Stingers scored a touchdown plus the extra point in the 8th.
Three Huskies had multi-hit games from Charlie Rhee, Mike Boeve, and Peyton Powell.
Duluth will square off against Willmar tomorrow at Wade Stadium for a 1:05 PM/CT first pitch. Huskies’ All-Star Will McEntire (3-0) will take the mound to attempt to split the series.
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The Duluth Huskies are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 27th 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, over 250 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB Gold Glove finalist and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. 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.
