Luke Persico certainly made his presence felt right away as he dug in for his first at-bat as a La Crosse Logger.  The freshmen outfielder out of UCLA, took his first pitch as a Logger deep for a for a solo shot.  The homerun capped off a monster night for the newly activated Logger as La Crosse beat the Alexandria Blue Anchors 10-5, Wednesday night from Copeland Park.  

Persico's home run added to the Loggers lead, as they went up 2-0.  Mike Nadratowski (Grand Valley State) would come all the way around from first on three wild pitches in the top of the third during an Austin Rei (Washington) at-bat to make the score 3-1 Loggers.

The Blue Anchors chipped away at the Loggers lead and eventually would tie the game up 5-5 in the top of the seventh inning on a Jake Bergren (Minnesota) RBI single.

But the La Crosse came right back in the bottom half of the seventh plating five runs.  Persico came up big again with a two-run RBI single to give the Loggers the lead.  Then third basemen Jerrod Bravo (Sacramento City CC) would single home Marc Frazier (Nicholls State) to increase the Loggers' lead by three runs.  Finally, Nash Knight (Dallas Baptist) broke it open with a two-run RBI single to score both Persico and Bravo.

Persico finished the night going 2-4 with two runs scored and three RBI's.

Relievers Zack Walsh (Valparaiso) and Connor Baits (UC-Santa Barbara) closed the door for the Lumbermen in the eighth and ninth innings respectively.

The Loggers kept pace with the Wisconsin Woodchucks and Lakeshore Chinooks with the win.  The three teams are tied atop the South Division for the first half crown, with the Woodchucks having the tiebreaker based on winning percentage.

The Loggers and Blue Anchors will conclude their series Thursday Night from the Lumberyard.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 .  The game can be heard live on The Loggers Nation Station, Eagle 102.7 FM.  Air time is set for 6:30.