La Crosse, Wisc. – The Bombers came out on top tonight, but McCoy had another big game. Mason has broken a number of team season records, but tonight it was a Northwoods League record that went down.
A four pitch walk and a stolen base opened the game up for the Bombers in the first inning. Billy Clemens (Gateway CC) was able to get Brennon Lund (BYU) into a rundown for the first out. The play came just in time because Dan Swain (Siena) took the next pitch over the left field wall for a solo home run.
The Loggers tied it up in the 3rd inning. Mason McCoy singled for the 69th time of the year. He scored on a Brock Lundquist double. The run was McCoy’s 68th of the season, tying the Northwoods League Record for runs in a season.
Billy Clemens was on a bit of a hot streak, retiring eight in a row with three strikeouts. He ran into trouble in the 4th inning though. The Bombers opened up with five consecutive singles, scoring two runs. Christian Helsel (Penn State) drove in the 3rd run of the inning on a fielder’s choice to left.
Michael Echavia (Chabot) came in to pitch a scoreless 5th inning, but had a rough 6th. A single and a double with no outs made way for a three-run blast into the right field stands to blow this game open, 7-2.
They added another run in the 7th on a RBI double by Lin Li (Nat’l Taiwan Sports University). La Crosse got the run right back when McCoy scored his 69th run on an error by the pitcher.
Fred Manke (Minnesota) threw 2.2 scoreless for the Bombers to close out the game. The loss is two straight for the Loggers and two straight wins for Battle Creek. La Crosse is now 16-11 in the second half and in third place behind Kenosha and Madison. Overall, they are in fourth with a record of 35-26.
The Lumbermen have an off day tomorrow but travel to North Division foe, Willmar, for a road interdivision series. Game time for Thursday’s game is 7:05. Catch the game on the Logger Radio Network, pregame starts at 6:30.