La Crosse, Wisc. – The Loggers score 16 unanswered runs to comeback and defeat the Minnesota Mud Puppies at Copeland Park.<\/p>\n
The Lumbermen fell behind early as Minnesota showed off impressive power. Behind patience at the plate and 3 home runs in the first 2 innings, the Mud Puppies were up 8 and looked to be in good shape. It did not take long for the Logs bats to get going, however, as new Logger Mana Lau Kong (Hawaii) singled up the middle to start the rally. Tracen Cameron (Florida International) brought in the first run with an RBI single, and a pair of extra-base hits from Joey Senstock (Nebraska) and Max Burt (Iowa) cut the deficit to 1.<\/p>\n
Ryan Bevington (San Jacinto North CC) was brought in to pitch in the top of the 3rd. After a scoreless frame, the Lumbermen got back to work. The inning kicked off with the bases being loaded after 3 straight walks. Back to back hit by pitches gave the Loggers the lead, and a triple from Gunnar Penzkover (Grand Canyon) topped off the 5 run inning, giving La Crosse the lead that they would not give up.<\/p>\n
Both teams would throw 1-2-3 innings before the Logs extended their lead by 4 behind more walks, another hit-by-pitch, and another extra-base hit from Penzkover.<\/p>\n
Bevington continued his excellenct outing, totalling 4 scoreless innings. The rest of the La Crosse bullpen picked up where Bevington left off, holding Minnesota scoreless behind 2 scoreless innings from Sam Spencer (Dodge City CC) and 1 from Beau Leisure (Iowa) to close out the 16-8 victory.<\/p>\n
Several players had impressive showings, including Eli Small (Florida Atlantic) who reached base safely 4 times, and Senstock and Penzkover who led the offense with 3 RBIs each.<\/p>\n
La Crosse moves to 6-1 and takes on the Waterloo Bucks at 6:35 in front of the Copeland crowd tomorrow night as Cody Kiemele is set to make his second start of the year. Gates open at 5:30 as the Loggers intend to remain undefeated at home.<\/p>\n