ST. CLOUD, MN – The La Crosse Loggers held on for a 4-3 victory on Thursday night in front of 1,738 onlookers at Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud, MN to secure a .500 road trip.
Thursday’s contest started out as a classic pitching duel between Loggers starter Cam Baumann (Iowa) and Rox starter Kyle Boser as the game was scoreless until the third when each team pushed across a run to knot the game at one. St. Cloud’s run came on a contested balk call with the bases loaded and turned out to be the lone run that Baumann would surrender as he was marvelous once again in his second start of 2018.
La Crosse would take the lead in the sixth after Jacob Blas (Arizona) led off with a single, followed by Shane McGuire (San Diego) reaching via an error. Korey Lee (Cal) would then drive in a run with a groundout before Kody Gardner (Sac City) would drive in another with an RBI single to give the Lumbermen a 3-1 lead.
The score would remain 3-1 until the ninth as Baumann turned in 6.2 stellar innings, allowing only one run on four hits while walking two and striking out seven. Quentin Miller (Butler) relieved Baumann and held the Rox at bay with 1.1 of scoreless baseball, striking out two.
La Crosse would push across a much needed insurance run in the top of the ninth when Zion Pettigrew’s (Iowa) bloop would drop on the right field foul line to plate Harrison Freed (Butler) and give the Loggers a 4-1 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth. After three free passes loaded the bases with one out, field manager Brian Lewis summoned Jon Meyerring (Miami-OH) to relieve Cam Pferrer (Missouri). The first batter Meyerring faced hit a slow roller down the third base line that found it’s way into left field and scored two runs for the Rox cutting the lead to 4-3 before Meyerring got the final two batters to fly out to end the game and secure the victory.
The Loggers (6-4) will now return home to the friendly confines of the Lumberyard to host the Waterloo Bucks on Friday night. Gates open at 6:00 p.m. for Happy Hour with Howie’s on La Crosse and the first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. A Fireworks Extravaganza will follow the ballgame, presented by the Mayo Clinic Health System.
