La Crosse, Wisc. – The Loggers faced off against the Honkers in a double header today and split the series with them, each winning a game a piece.
The first game started at 12:05 and La Crosse started the scoring early. Eli Small (Florida Atlantic) hit a 2 run home run in the bottom of the first to give the Lumbermen an early lead. Rochester answered back quickly, hitting a home run of their own, scoring 3 and taking the lead back. The bats would stay hot for La Crosse, however, as in the bottom of the frame as several walks and a bases clearing 3 RBI double from Savion Flowers (Kansas) along with an RBI single by Sebastian Hurtado (Central Florida) would give the Loggers a lead they would not give up.
The Loggers would score at least one run in all but the 4th inning. Despite allowing 5 runs in the 9th innings, the Loggers would come out victorious to start the day, defeating the Honkers 14-10.
Impressive perfomances included 3 hits from Savion Flowers, a 4 hits from Sebastian Hurtado, as well as 3 shutout innings of relief from Christien Banda (Long Beach State) striking out 8 in the process.
The second game of the day included similar offensive outputs, but a different final result. The Loggers would lose 11-15 despite leading early in the game. A 10 run 4th inning from Rochester forced La Crosse to play catch up. Back to back innings of 3 RBI doubles from Carson Ohland (Grand Canyon) and Sebastian Hurtado in the 5th and 6th respectively kept the game close, but La Crosse would ultimately fall short of the comeback.
Hurtado continued his spectacular day, gathering 3 more hits, including one for extra bases. Mana Lau Kong (Hawaii) also had a solid game with a single, a double, and a walk.
La Crosse plays again tomorrow night against the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters. AJ Curtis (UW – La Crosse) is expected to start as the Loggers will be wearing their Catbird uniforms. First pitch is at 6:35 and gates open at 5:30.