La Crosse, Wisc. – The La Crosse Loggers secure a 6-4 victory over the Rochester Honkers at Copeland Park to move to 43-22 on the season.
The Lumbermen started the scoring in the bottom of the first, as a pair of walks and an RBI single from Landen Lozier (Kansas) gave the hosts the early lead. Rochester would answer in the third, as a triple, walk, followed by a homerun would grant the Honkers the 3-1 lead.
The Loggers would cut the defecit in half via a sacrafice flyball in the bottom of the frame, but still down 3-2 heading into the 4th. Luis Martin Romero (St. Mary’s) would bounce back from the previous inning, going three up, three down, in the fourth and fifth inning.
La Crosse would take the small ball approach in the 5th inning, as with runners on first and second Noah Jones (Georgia SW State) would drop a bunt. A defensive error would result in Jones being safe, and everybody advancing an extra base, scoring a run. An RBI groundout followed by another bunt would end up scoring two more, capping off the 3 run inning, giving the lead back to the Loggers.
Martin Romero would continue his streak of 1-2-3 innings, retiring 12 batters straight going back to the start of the 4th inning. The 8th inning was insurance time for La Crosse, and a double from Lukas Buckner (Coastal Carolina) followed by two productive outs secured the extra run for the Loggers, giving them a 3 run cushion. Haru Takekawa (Nihon University) made his home debut, getting the oppurtunity for the extended save. He pitched a scoreless 8th inning, and after allowing a run on pair of doubles in the 9th, buckled down and secured the win for the Logs.
Luis Martin Romero lead the way with his quality start, pitching 7 innings, allowing 3 runs, and striking out 7 in the process. Lukas Buckner and Jake Redding (Hawaii) led the offense with 3 hits each, one of Buckner’s being for extra bases.
The Loggers will travel to Waterloo to take on the Bucks tomorrow night with the thought of playoff home field advantage in mind. Up 1.0 games on Eau Claire at the moment, they look to extend their advantage at the 6:35 game.