MANKATO, MN – The La Crosse Loggers picked up their first win of the young 2024 season Tuesday night when they outlasted the host Mankato MoonDogs at ISG Field, winning by a final score of 3-1 in front of 898 fans.
Loggers starter Casey Burfield (Nevada) silenced the Mankato bats all night long, limiting them to just one run on six hits over seven innings of work while striking out eight to earn the win (1-0).
MoonDogs starter Joe Ruzika was almost equally as good as he kept the Loggers bats quiet over 5.2 innings, limiting La Crosse to just one run on three hits while striking out five.
As both starters dominated early, the game was scoreless through five innings until RJ Hamilton (Vanderbilt) laced a one-out double in the sixth that was followed by a Luke Anderson (BYU) single to setup a RBI sacrifice fly from Luke Davis (Long Beach City College) to give the Lumberman a 1-0 lead.
The lead was short lived as Mankato answered right back an inning later to tie the score at one through seven complete.
The Hamilton-Anderson duo would get things rolling once again for the Loggers in eighth. After a lead-off single from Hamilton, Anderson doubled and then Davis followed with a walk to load the bases. Trevor Schmidt (LSU) then worked a bases-loaded walk to bring home Hamilton. After a pitching change for Mankato, Derek Mitchell (LSU) brought home another with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to plate Anderson and put La Crosse on top 3-1.
Kaden Taque (Cal) would relieve Burfield and come on to toss a scoreless eighth and Ozzie Martinez (St. Thomas) then came in to shut the door in the ninth, striking out a pair to earn his first save of the season.
With the win the Loggers improved to 1-1 and Mankato fell to 1-1. La Crosse will now head home to the friendly confines of Copeland Park for the 2024 home opener on Wednesday when they host the Thunder Bay Border Cats, first pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.
