St. Cloud, Minn.- The Loggers fall out of contention for the 1st half championship with a 5-4 loss to the Rox tonight.
Mason McCoy (Iowa) and Griffin Conine (Duke) led off the game with back-to-back singles. Cullen Large (William & Mary) brought in McCoy with a sacrifice fly to center field. The run tied him for the team career record at 97, held by Bobby Juan (2011-2013).
After a leadoff walk by Kevin Collard (San Diego), Kyle Plantier (UC-Santa Barbara) doubled, scoring Collard. Two batters later, Mason McCoy singled bringing in Plantier.
Logger starting pitcher Nick Raquet (William & Mary) held the Rox to only one hit, while striking out 3 batters, through 3 innings. St. Cloud took the lead in their half of the 4th inning. Michael Strem (Boston College) reached on an error by the 3rd baseman Cullen Large. Denis Karas (California) brought in Strem with a double. Two singles, two walks, and a fielder’s choice score 3 more runs, giving the Rox a 4-3 lead.
St. Cloud added another run in the 6th inning, but the Grant Fennell (Nevada) quickly negated it. With an out in the 7th inning, he homered on a 2-2 pitch to bring the Rox lead back to one.
Chris Martin (Angelo State) earns the win for the Rox (1-0) with 3 innings of relief work. He gave up 1 run on 1 hits, walking 3 and striking out 2 Loggers.
Nick Raquet falls to 1-3. He gave up 4 runs, yet only one of them was earned. He struck out 3 batters and walked 5.
La Crosse falls to 16-15 with the loss. St. Cloud earns their league-leading 21st victory (21-9). The Loggers now trail the Rox by 5.5 games with 5 games remaining. The Lumbermen can still earn a playoff spot with a 2nd Half North Division championship or by grabbing one of the two wild card spots with the two best remaining overall records.
The Loggers have the chance to even up the series tomorrow night. Game time is 7:05.
