La Crosse, Wisc. – The La Crosse Loggers sweep the 4-game (2 away/2 home) series against the Duluth Huskies with a 9-6 win at Copeland Park Sunday night.
With one in the bottom of the 1st, Griffin Conine (Duke) got the game going with a bang, hitting his 11th (Ties NWL best) home run of the season.
Justin Wylie (San Diego State) walked with an out in the 2nd inning. Gavin Johns (UCLA) followed him with a single of his own. After a successful double steal, Wylie scored on a base hit by shortstop Mason McCoy (Iowa).
Singles by Chad Dullnig (UT-San Antonio) and Justin Wylie (San Diego State) brought in two more runs in the very next inning. The La Crosse bats were not nearly done just yet. The Lumbermen broke the game open with 5 more runs in the 4th on 4 hits, 3 walks, and an error. David Kroger (St. Cloud State) came into pitch for the Huskies midway through that inning, and settled down the red-hot Loggers offense.
The Loggers’ defense ran into trouble in the 8th inning. An error by thirdbaseman Kyle Plantier (UC-Santa Barbara) and a hit-by-pitch started off the ugly inning. Another error by Plantier allowed Brendan McClary (Columbia Basin). A third error of the inning, this time by left fielder Lorenzo Hampton Jr. (UCLA) on a Jake Pries (UCLA) single allowed another run to score. It did not get much better. Back-to-back walks and then a single gave Duluth four runs for the inning before Zach Kesterson (Duke) came into the game to shut down the Huskies.
Kesterson surrendered another two runs in the top of the 9th, but was finally able to cap the game off to win 9-6.
La Crosse collected a season-high 16 hits on the night. Grant Fennell went 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and a RBI.
Randy Labaut (Arizona) pitched one of the best starts of the season. He picked up his 1st win as a Logger (1-1). Randy went 6.2 innings, shuting out the Huskies on 3 hits. He walked 4 batters and struck out 8 more.
Ryan Tapini (Creighton) took the loss for Duluth (3-3). He last 3.0+ innings, giving up 8 runs on 11 hits. He walked 3 batters with 1 strikeout.
La Crosse have won 5 of the last 6 games and 8 out of their last 11. They move up to 12-9 in the 2nd half (29-28 overall). This is the first time the Loggers have been above .500 overall since June 30th. Duluth loses their 7th straight game to fall to 6-16 in the 2nd half (24-34 overall). Waterloo joins us at the Lumberyard bright and early at 11:05 am for the opener of a home/away doubleheader. The second game will be played at Riverfront Stadium at 7:05 in Waterloo, Iowa. All kids 12 & under get in for just $5 tomorrow morning, including a free Jr. Loggers meal! Gates open at 10 am.
