LA CROSSE, Wis. — After allowing two runs in the top of the first inning, the La Crosse Loggers rallied to score the next seven runs of the game en route to an 8-6 win over the Willmar Stingers in front of 2,752 fans at Copeland Park on Saturday night. La Crosse improved its record to 15-18, while the Stingers fell to 20-13.
After JT Schwartz (UCLA) and Matt Stinebiser (Duke) got on base to start the bottom of the first inning, Brady Allen (South Carolina) hit a laser of a double to left centerfield to tie the game at 2-2. Tony Bullard (Arizona) followed with an RBI groundout two batters later to give the Loggers a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish.
Hunter Watson (Texas A&M) connected on his first home run of the season, a moon shot to right field in the bottom of the second inning to increase the La Crosse lead to 4-2. Stinebiser and Allen added RBI singles in the fourth inning to extend the Loggers’ lead to 6-2, and Jacob English (South Carolina) plated Trey Harris (Arkansas) in the fifth inning for a 7-2 advantage.
Willmar answered with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to close the margin to 7-5, but Bullard drilled his third home run of the season out to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning to add another run to the Loggers’ cushion.
La Crosse collected 12 hits on the day, led by a 3-for-4 performance by Allen. Stinebiser, Bullard and Watson each added two hits for the Loggers.
Right-hander Matt Kennedy (St. Joseph’s) earned the win for the Loggers, allowing five runs on five hits over 5.2 innings pitch. Relievers Lalo Porras (Lewis Clark State), Jack Filby (UCLA) and Jared Freilich (Penn State) combined to allow just one run over 3.1 innings of relief, with Freilich coming on in the ninth to earn a one-pitch save.
The two teams will square off again tonight for a 5:05 first pitch at Copeland Park.
