La Crosse, Wis. – The La Crosse Loggers improved to 7-4 on Friday night with a 6-3 victory over the Waterloo Bucks in front of 2,926 Copeland Crazies at the Lumberyard.
The Loggers jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI double from Jordan Holladay (South Carolina) scoring Kody Gardner (Sac City) from first after the lefty drew a leadoff walk. The hometown nine would add an unearned run the following inning when Ramon Padilla (Illinois Central) drew a bases loaded walk to plate Korey Lee (Cal) who began the inning with a free pass of his own. With the score 2-0 after three innings, the Lumbermen would erupt for four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, highlighted by a three-run home run to left field from Korey Lee scoring Jacob Blas (Arizona) and Shane McGuire (San Diego) to stretch the lead to 6-0 after four.
Loggers’ starting pitcher Peter Hamot (Lewis) was dominant all night on the bump, tossing 7.0 shutout innings and earning the win in his third start of the season. The 6-foot-4 right hander scattered five Waterloo hits and struck out four, lowering his season ERA to 3.07. With the help of a couple timely double plays and great command of his offspeed pitches, Hamot earned the Loggers their third victory of the season over the Waterloo Bucks.
The Bucks would make it interesting in the late innings, scoring three runs (one earned) in the top of the eighth inning off of Loggers’ reliever Lalo Porras (Lewis-Clark). An errant throw by the third baseman, followed by a walk and base hit loaded the bases with one out for the Bucks. Pinch hitter Brendan Hueth scored two on a ground ball through the middle, and the Bucks would add a third run on the play as the throw from center bounced out of play. Brian Schrimmer (Bradley) would enter the game from the Loggers’ bullpen and shut the door for a five-out save, his first of the season.
The Loggers and Bucks will be back in action Saturday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 PM CT. Come out to the Lumberyard early for a special promotion presented by Kwik Trip, as the first 1,000 fans will receive a bobblehead of 2015 Northwoods League MVP and Loggers’ all-time hits leader Mason McCoy.
The La Crosse Loggers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.lacrosseloggers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Loggers as your favorite team.
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