DULUTH, Minn. \u2013 The Duluth Huskies (1-4, 17-23) entered the All-Star Break with a loss, falling 18-9 to the La Crosse Loggers (4-2, 26-14)<\/p>\n
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The game didn\u2019t have the look of a blowout early on, with the two teams exchanging blows through the first five innings. Anthony Cepeda walked to lead off the bottom of the first for Duluth, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a sharp single from Dax Hardcastle. Logan de Groot doubled in a response run in the second, and the Loggers made it 2-1 with a sacrifice fly from the next batter.<\/p>\n
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Duluth captured the lead back thanks to a second-inning RBI knock from Brayden Smith and a run-scoring sac bunt from Cepeda. The Lumbermen swung the lead back the other way with a two-run double from Sebastian Hurtado in the fourth, but Manny Dorantes tied things up \u2013 he knocked a sacrifice fly to score Isaiah Ibarra, who had reached on a double.<\/p>\n
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The cart fell apart in the top of the sixth, with six walks, a hit-by-pitch, and two costly throwing errors allowing 12 runs to score for La Crosse. That number is easily the most allowed by the Huskies in a single frame this season. The hosts rallied to plate four runs in the seventh with Jalen Smith and Ibarra knocking in runs with doubles. Smith brought in another run with an eighth-inning sac fly, but the efforts were in vain.<\/p>\n
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Jackson Smith authored a solid start before things fell apart, delivering 3.0 innings, allowing five hits, two runs, and two walks while striking out a pair. Brent Godina gave up two runs in 2.0 relief innings, but both were unearned. Harrison Burdge took the loss, giving up five in 0.2 frames. Carter Boos conceded one run in 1.1 innings, and Devin Costa threw the final 2.0 while allowing one to score.<\/p>\n
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Cepeda was productive every time he stepped to the plate, walking thrice, driving in a run with a sac bunt, singling, and reaching on an error. The DH scored three runs. George McIntyre went 3-for-5 with a run. Dax Hardcastle recorded two hits and an RBI. Brayden Smith posted three RBI on two knocks. Ibarra put together just the second four-hit game of the season for Duluth, doubling twice.<\/p>\n
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On Deck<\/strong><\/p>\n Duluth takes four days off for the All Star Game and Home Run Challenge, where they will be represented by Jalen Smith. They return to action on July 9 and 10, facing the Waterloo Bucks at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" DULUTH, Minn. \u2013 The Duluth Huskies (1-4, 17-23) entered the All-Star Break with a loss, falling 18-9 to the La […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":25172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n