DULUTH, MN – A pair of four run leads and four hours and eight minutes were not enough for the La Crosse Loggers to secure a road victory on Wednesday night as the host Huskies scored five times in the bottom of the eleventh to walk-off victorious over the Loggers by a final of 9-8.
The Lumbermen would take and hold multiple leads throughout this game as they posted a four run fourth inning, powered by a bases-clearing, three-RBI double off the bat of Kyson Donahue (Arizona) to give Loggers starter Grant Judkins (Iowa) a 4-0 lead.
Judkins would end up going 5.1 strong innings on the night, only surrendering one run on six hits while walking one and striking out six before departing with the lead.
The Huskies would chip away at that lead as they scored twice once in the sixth, once in the seventh and two more times in the eighth to push the game to extra frames.
After both teams failed to score in the tenth, the Loggers appeared to break it open in the eleventh when they tallied four runs to take an 8-4 lead thanks to RBI’s from Harrison Freed (Butler), Shane McGuire (San Diego) and Donta Williams (Arizona). But after a single and a pair of walks to Duluth batters in the bottom of the eleventh to load the bases, the Huskies would single home one run before La Crosse made a pitching change to bring in Stephen Knapp (Bellevue). Knapp got the first batter to strike out before surrendering a bases clearing triple to tie the game and one batter later a sacrifice fly brought home the fifth and winning run.
La Crosse totalled 14 hits on the night led by three-hit nights from Jarron Silva (UCLA) and Freed. Mike Rothenberg (Duke) and Williams also collected a pair of safeties in the loss.
The Loggers now return home to begin a four-game homestand beginning on Thursday when they host the St. Cloud Rox at 7:05 p.m. Gates open early at 6:00 p.m. for Moxie’s Night at the Park and Paint the Park Purple with the Alzheimer’s Association.
