DULUTH, MN – The La Crosse Loggers outslugged and outlasted the Duluth Huskies in a wild 11-10, ten-inning victory on Tuesday night in front o f1,202 fans at Wade Stadium in Duluth, MN.

Bradien Ward (Washington) led off the game with a single, stole second and came around to score two batters later on a Shane McGuire (San Diego) RBI groundout to give La Corsse an early 1-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the third when the Loggers defense struggled to support starter Brady Acker (Nova SE) in the midst of his first start as Duluth would post a five-spot in the third, aided by three Loggers miscues to take a 5-1 lead.

La Crosse would get two runs back in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-RBI single off the bat of Donta Williams (Arizona) that scored Korey Lee (Cal) and Armani Smith (UCSB) to make it 5-3.

Acker would come back out for the fourth but was forced to leave after his second pitch of the inning due to an injury and coach Brian Lewis summoned Colton Larkins (Oral Roberts) in from the bullpen who promptly tossed a scoreless fourth.

The Logger bats erupted then in the fifth, scoring four times powered by a two-RBI single from Steve Mann (Duke) to regain the lead 7-5.

These two heavyweights would exchange blows the rest of the way as Duluth would recapture the lead in the bottom of the seventh with four of their own runs, putting them on top 9-7.  After La Crosse got one back in the eighth to trim the lead to 9-8, that set the stage for Korey Lee in the ninth.  Mike Rothenberg (Duke) led off with a single and Lee drove an 0-2 offering over the outfield fence for a two-run shot to give the Lumbermen a 10-9 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.

Duluth would find a way to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth off of reliever Chase Whitaker (Merced College) when they drew a two-out bases loaded walk.  But the Loggers kept grinding and, after Nick Lewis reached on a an error to start the frame, Harrrison Freed (Butler) would single him home to give the Loggers an 11-10 lead.  Whitaker then closed it out to secure the victory.

La Crosse’s red-hot offense pounded out 16 hits on the night lead by Ward’s four-hit performance.  Lewis, Freed and Rothernberg all added two-hit nights as Freed extended his current hit streak.

These same two teams will do battle again on Wednesday night back at Wade Stadium in Duluth.  Air time on the Logger Radio Network is set for 6:00 p.m. with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

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