Article by Noah Grant. Photo by St. Cloud State Athletic Department/Nathaly Delgado.
The St. Cloud State Huskies baseball team went 1-1 in their doubleheader against the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on April 16. Due to inclement weather, the series was played at Superior High School in Superior, Wisconsin.
The Huskies rode a strong start to a 4-3 victory in game 1 before falling 11-1 in game 2. St. Cloud only managed to score in the first inning of each game.
In game 1, the Huskies brought nine batters to the plate in the top of the first inning against Duluth starter Joe Gizzi. Liam Moreno and Wyatt Tweet opened the game with singles before Wilmis Castro was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.
Ethan Navratil lofted an RBI single to left to open the scoring, and then Blaine Guthrie grounded into a double play, bringing home the second run. After another hit by pitch, Hayden Konkol and Eric Bello delivered RBI knocks to make it 4-0 Huskies.
Duluth would answer back in the second, as Garrett Stauffacher powered a solo home run to left center field. Just one batter later, Caden Klebba drove a ball over the left field wall for his first collegiate home run to make it 4-2. Duluth would cut the lead to one and the same inning as Sam Kliber singled in another Bulldog run.
After that inning, however, Huskies starter Drayton Lou settled in. The freshman allowed just one hit the rest of the way, pitching five strong innings.
On the other side, Gizzi also rebounded after the tough first inning. The sophomore worked five innings, allowing eight hits with one strikeout. St. Cloud had baserunners in every inning except one against Gizzi but were unable to push across any insurance.
Huskies closer Frankie Volkers came on in relief of Lou, pitching the final two innings to earn his eighth save of the season. Volkers struck out three while not allowing a hit.
Game 2 looked like more of the same for the Huskies, as Liam Moreno led off with a double and Grayson Fuchs followed with a single. Unfortunately for St. Cloud, they only managed one run in the frame on a Navratil sacrifice fly, scoring Moreno.
The offense would go cold after that, as the Moreno double proved to be the only extra base hit of the game for St. Cloud. Duluth starter Ryan Wattermann was dominant, going seven innings with seven strikeouts. It was Wattermann’s longest start of the season for the Bulldogs.
For the Duluth lineup, they also got going early, scoring five times in the bottom of the first. After two hit by pitches and a walk loaded the bases, Nathan Rosenberg and Garrett Stauffacher followed with singles to make it 2-1. Hayden Anthony drove in a pair with an RBI double to increase the lead to 4-1, and a sacrifice fly rounded out the scoring for the first inning.
The Bulldogs never looked back after that, scoring two more in the third on a Henry Bushy double to make it 7-1. Rosenberg picked up his second RBI of the game in the fourth, singling in Sam Kliber. Kliber would add to the offensive fireworks in the fifth, as his sacrifice fly scored Bushy to drive the Bulldogs lead to 9-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, Duluth scored their final two runs. Troy Lynch hit a one out single and moved to third on a Rosenberg double. Stauffacher added to his RBI total when he grounded out to first, scoring Lynch. Hayden Anthony followed him with a single to right field to drive in Rosenberg. With the ten-run lead, the game ended on the hit.
Ryan Wattermann picked up the well-earned win for Duluth, while Huskies starter A.J. Price took the loss. Price allowed all five first inning runs while recording just one out.
The Huskies are now 20-17 on the season and will be back at home on April 18 to host Wayne State. The doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. from Joe Faber Field in St. Cloud.
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