The Duluth Huskies held on to a three-run lead Wednesday night to beat the Eau Claire Express 3-2 in a Northwoods League baseball game in front of 1,161 fans at Wade Stadium.
After scoring two runs in the third and one in the fourth, the Huskies allowed a run by the Express in both the fifth and sixth innings. But the first-place Huskies were able to hang on and maintain a one-game lead over Alexandria in the North Division of the Northwoods League.
Zach Von Tersch pitched 5 2/3 innings for Duluth, improving his record to 6-3. Von Tersch allowed three hits and two earned runs, walked seven and struck out four. Brant Combs earned his seventh save of the season, going 1 2/3 hitless innings.
Adam Worthington (4-3) pitched seven innings for Eau Claire in a losing effort. Worthington allowed seven hits and three runs, two earned, with three walks and nine strikeouts.
Chris House was 2-for-4 for the Huskies with one RBI. Joey Bonadonna scored and added an RBI, and Kevin Hansen was 2-for-2 with a run scored.
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The Huskies (34-23 overall, 14-9 second half) and the Express (34-23, 16-7) meet again at 7:05 p.m. today at Wade Stadium.
AUTHOR TO BEAT HUSKIES' GAME
Beth Bollinger, an author from Spokane, Wash., will be at Wade Stadium tonight for a book signing as part of the Huskies' "Turn Back the Clock to the '60s Night.''
Bollinger wrote "Until the End of the Ninth,'' a novel based on the true story of the 1946 Spokane Indians minor league baseball team, which lost nine of its members in 1946 to a bus crash midway through the season. Bollinger said the only other minor league baseball bus crash of that impact was in 1948, when the former Duluth-Superior Dukes lost five men.
Bollinger said she approached the story as a field-of-dreams type novel and that the Duluth crash is discussed toward the end of the book. Go to www.untiltheendoftheninth.com for more information.
NORTHWOODS LEAGUE
NORTH DIVISION
W L Pct. GB
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Duluth (34-23) 14 9 .609 --
Alexandria (31-26) 13 10 .565 1
x-St. Cloud (31-25) 10 12 .455 3½
Mankato (28-28) 10 12 .455 3½
Thunder Bay (23-34) 10 13 .435 4
Brainerd (20-37) 9 14 .391 5
Rochester (26-30) 8 14 .363 5½
SOUTH DIVISION
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W L Pct. GB
x-Green Bay (39-17) 16 7 .696 --
Eau Claire (34-23) 16 7 .696 --
Wisconsin (31-25) 15 7 .682 ½
Madison (29-26) 14 8 .636 1½
Waterloo (25-32) 10 13 .435 6
Battle Creek (22-33) 7 15 .318 8½
La Crosse (22-32) 6 17 .261 10
x-won first-half title
Tuesday's Results
Thunder Bay 6, Duluth 3
Green Bay 4, Brainerd 3
Rochester 1, Mankato 0
Alexandria 6, St. Cloud 5
Wisconsin 1, Waterloo 0
Wednesday's Results
Alexandria 7, Wisconsin 2
Brainerd 8, Green Bay 3
Duluth 3, Eau Claire 2
Mankato 3, La Crosse 2
Battle Creek 10, Rochester 3
St. Cloud 3, Thunder Bay 2
Madison 1, Waterloo 0
Today's Games
At 7:05 p.m.
Wisconsin at Alexandria
Green Bay at Brainerd
Eau Claire at Duluth
Mankato at La Crosse
Rochester at Battle Creek
St. Cloud at Thunder Bay
Waterloo at Madison
Eau Claire Duluth
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Nimmo cs 1 1 0 1 Price ss 4 0 0 0
Frew lf 4 0 0 0 Bndna 2b 3 1 1 1
Calhoun rf 5 0 1 1 House lf 4 0 2 1
Cales 2b 4 0 0 0 Ellrich 1b 4 0 0 0
Jefferies c 4 1 1 1 Jones rf 3 0 1 0
Hollick 3b 3 0 1 0 Dove cf 4 1 1 0
Piazza dh 3 0 0 0 Sllvan dh 2 0 0 0
Uribe 1b 2 0 0 0 Schffer c 2 0 0 0
LaLuna ss 3 0 0 0 Glbrch ph/c 1 0 0 0
Wrthgtn p 0 0 0 0 Hansen 3b 2 1 2 0
Gehle p 0 0 0 0 Von Trsch p 0 0 0 0
Romo p 0 0 0 0
Combs p 0 0 0 0
Totals 29 2 3 2 Totals 29 3 7 2
Eau Claire 000 011 000 -- 2
Duluth 002 100 00x -- 3
E -- LaLuna; Worthington; House; Ellrich; Schaeffer. DP -- Express 1. LOB -- Express 11; Huskies 7. 2B -- Jones. HBP -- LaLuna; Jones. SH -- Frew; Hollick; Sullivan. SB -- Nimmo 2; LaLuna; Bonadonna; Dove. CS -- House.
IP H R ER BB SO
Eau Claire
Worthington L, 4-3 7.0 7 3 2 3 9
Gehle 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
Duluth
Von Tersch W, 6-3 5.2 3 2 2 7 4
Romo 1.2 0 0 0 0 1
Combs S, 7 1.2 0 0 0 1 0
WP -- Worthington 3. HBP -- by Von Tersch (LaLuna); by Worthington (Jones). PB -- Jefferies.
Strikeouts -- Calhoun; Cales; Hollick; LaLuna 2; Bonadonna; House 2; Ellrich 3; Jones; Dove 2; Gelbrich. Walks -- Nimmo 4; Cales; Piazza; Uribe 2; Bonadonna; Sullivan; Hansen.
Time: 2:49. Attendance: 1,161
