LA CROSSE, Wis. — Ronnie Sweeny hit a pair of home runs and Jared Freilich closed out the game in record-setting fashion as the La Crosse Loggers toppled the Rockford Rivets 10-6 at Copeland Park on Tuesday evening. The Loggers improve to 13-14 with the win, while the Rivets fall to 13-14.
After the Rivets took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning, Sweeny (University of Minnesota) hit his second home run in as many nights, a two-run shot to right field to tie the game at 3-3. Rockford retook a 5-3 lead in the fourth inning, but base hits by JT Thompson (Texas State), Sweeny, and Trey Harris (Crowder College) gave the Loggers the lead once again at 6-5.
The back-and-forth night continued as the Rivets re-tied the game at 6-6, but Kobe Kato (Arizona) hit a two-run home run of his own to give the Loggers an 8-6 lead. Sweeny would add his second home run of the night, a solo shot in the seventh inning, and Luke Brown (Louisville) walked, stole second, and came around to score to provide the final margin for the Loggers.
Freilich struck out each of the four batters he faced, including Rivets outfielder Tyler Acosta with the bases loaded to help preserve the La Crosse lead. His fourth save of the season gives him 17 in his two-year Loggers career, setting a new franchise career mark previously held by Donny Erdall (Winona State, 2006-07) and Ty Provencher (Long Beach State, 2014-15).
The Loggers bullpen allowed just one hit in five innings of relief of starter Tony Roca (North Florida). Eli Campbell (Bradley) pitched a clean 1.2 innings out of the bullpen to earn the win.
Sweeny finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four RBI, on his way to earning Northwoods League Player of the Night honors. Kato tallied three RBI and two stolen bases, while Harris also had two hits for La Crosse.
The Loggers will once again play host to the Rockford Rivets on Wednesday night, with first pitch set for 6:35 pm at Copeland Park.