LA CROSSE, WI- The La Crosse Loggers fell short for the second consecutive night, losing 6-5 to the Minot Hot Tots at Copeland Park in front of 1,908 fans.
Logger starter Ozzie Martinez (St. Thomas) pitched one inning without allowing any earned runs.
Reliever Tyler Albanese (San Jose State) took over for six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out five.
On the Minot side, Griffin Shearon (Minot State) went five innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out three.
The Hot Tots struck early in the first inning, scoring two runs off an error by Ozzie Martinez, allowing Abe Affholter (Winthrop) to score. Blake Penso (California Irvine) followed with an RBI groundout, giving Minot an early 2-0 lead.
The Loggers responded in the third inning with a sacrifice fly from RJ Hamilton (Vanderbilt) driving in Matt Miura (Hawaii).
In the top of the sixth, Evan Dempsey (Florida Gulf Coast) hit a two-run homer, extending Minot’s lead to 4-1.
The Hot Tots added two more runs in the eighth inning with a two-run homer from Brant Baughcum (Mercer), making it 6-1.
The Loggers rallied in the bottom of the eighth, with Derrick Mitchell (LSU) driving in two runs on a single to center, followed by Sebastian David (Stanford) driving in two more on a single to left, bringing the score to 6-5. However, their efforts fell short as Minot’s Tanner Muller (St. Charles CC) secured his second save of the year.
With this loss, the Loggers’ record falls to 27-23, while the Hot Tots improve to 19-32. The Loggers will seek redemption tomorrow at Copeland Park for game two of the series, with the first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.
