LA CROSSE, WI – On Thursday night, the Loggers beat the Huskies handedly. Duluth was determined to make the game a closer one on Friday.
The Loggers struck for two in the bottom of the second inning. With one man on, Danny Neri launched a ball over the wall in right field for the fifth Bluff Blast of the season to make the score 2-0. The score would stay there until the seventh inning. The pitchers for both teams were dealing through six as both offenses were limited early.
The Huskies made their run in the seventh. A walk and a hit-by-pitch put two men on before Joshua Duarte doubled to drive in one. The next batter, Max Coupe, would single to drive in the runner from third. With Coupe on first and Duarte now on third, Coupe stole second and the throw down to second allowed Duarte to waltz home and take the lead. Two more would score on a Brandon Compton double and a Brylan West single making the score 5-2 for Duluth.
In the bottom of the seventh, with two Loggers on, Ethan Frey would loft a single to right-center to cut the lead to two. Later in the inning, Aidan Sweatt would single to drive in two and tie the game at five each.
Something had to give in the eighth inning. After a double by Ty Chapman, Gable Mitchell attempted to bunt Chapman over to third. The Husky pitcher collected the bunted ball and errantly threw the ball over the first baseman’s head and all the way to the Husky bullpen in right field. The throw allowed Chapman to score from second with the speedy Gable Mitchell rounding first, second, and third on his way to home. Usually a sacrifice bunt ends with the player who hit it back in his dugout, but it’s usually not because he was able to touch all the bases and score. After the electric play, the score was 7-5.
Logger reliever Aiden Moffett came in to close out the ninth. With fourteen pitches, Moffett induced a fly ball to left field and struck out two to end the game. The Loggers had come out on top once again.
The Huskies fall to 7-5, still in third place in the Great Plains East Division second half. The Loggers improve to 9-1, still one game behind the red-hot Waterloo Bucks who come to Copeland Park on Saturday night in what should be an incredible series.
