LA CROSSE, WI – In front of a crowd of 2,016 at Copeland Park, the La Crosse Loggers were defeated by the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders with a final score of 9-6.
Logger starter Ryan Troye (Cal Santa Barbara) pitched 3.1 innings, allowing seven runs on three hits, with six walks and two strikeouts. Reliever Micah Worley (Modesto JC) delivered a strong performance, pitching two innings of scoreless, hitless relief, striking out six.
Fond du Lac’s starter, Jonah Montes (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical), pitched three innings, conceding one run on three hits.
The Dock Spiders took an early lead in the first inning with a grand slam by Aidan Jolley (Georgia Tech), making the score 4-0.
The Loggers responded in the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run to center field by Ryan Kucherak (LSU), bringing the score to 4-1.
In the third inning, an RBI groundout by Caden Shapiro (Princeton) extended the Dock Spiders’ lead to 5-1.
They continued to widen the gap in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single by Travis Strickler (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical), making it 7-1, followed by another RBI groundout from Parker Knoll (Lawrence), pushing the score to 8-1.
La Crosse rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning, adding four runs with RBIs from Ryan Kucherak, Cooper Brass (New Mexico), Kanon Sundgren (Weatherford), and a sacrifice fly from Sebastian David (Stanford), narrowing the deficit to 8-5.
The Dock Spiders responded in the seventh with an RBI single from Adam Cootway (UW-Whitewater), bringing the score to 9-5.
The Loggers managed one more run in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single by RJ Hamilton (Vanderbilt), making it 9-6. Despite their efforts, the Loggers could not overcome the deficit and fell to the Dock Spiders.
With this loss, the Loggers’ record drops to 28-26, while the Dock Spiders improve to 20-34. The Loggers will face the Dock Spiders again tomorrow night at Copeland Park for the second game of the two-game set, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
