Rochester, Minn. – The La Crosse Loggers received a pair of two-out clutch hits in the top of the ninth inning on Thursday night to better the host Rochester Honkers by a final score of 8-5 at historic Mayo Field.<\/p>\n
The Lumbermen came out swinging in this one plating a pair of runs in the top of the first courtesy of a 2-RBI double off the bat of Mateo Gray (Central Florida) and than added two more runs in the second, spurred on by a RJ Hamilton (Vanderbilt) triple to take a 4-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Rochester answered right back off of La Crosse starter Luke Elward (Golden West CC) when they plated three runs in the bottom of the second to chase Elward from the contest.<\/p>\n
La Crosse would add to their lead in the third when, after a pair of singles and a free pass, Max Kalk (Ball State) would lift a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Gray putting the Loggers up 5-3.<\/p>\n
But the Loggers would then be held hitless until the eighth and the Honkers slowly chipped away scoring once in the fifth and once again the bottom of the eighth to knot the score at five apiece.<\/p>\n
In the top of the ninth, Ryan Costello (Maryland) would draw a one out walk that was followed by a Savion Flowers (Kansas) double.\u00a0 After a strikeout, Eli Small (Kentucky) would deliver a two-out, two-RBI single up the middle to the Loggers the lead.\u00a0 One batter later, Xander Mclaurin (Cal-Poly) would deliver another two-out, RBI single up the middle to put La Crosse up 8-5.<\/p>\n
Jack Mount (Wichita State) would come on in the bottom of the ninth and slam the door, striking out two, to secure his fourth save of the summer and the Loggers 18th victory.<\/p>\n
With the win, coupled with a Waterloo loss to Thunder Bay, the Loggers moved back into a tie for first place in the Great Plains East Division standings at 18-7.<\/p>\n
The Loggers and the Honkers will meet again on Friday night back in Mayo Field for a 6:35 p.m. start.<\/p>\n