Duluth Huskies pitching coach Pat Evers reiterated the game plan to reliever Mike Nihsen during a ninth-inning visit to the mound in a one-run Northwoods League game Thursday night at Wade Stadium.
Their plan: Pitch around La Crosse Loggers center fielder Eric Thames and not let him beat them.
Thames, who went 6-for-6 and hit for the cycle Wednesday against Thunder Bay, quickly laced an RBI triple over the head of center fielder Chris Dove to score Spencer Lucian and tie the score at 1.
In the next at-bat, Cole White hit a groundball past shortstop Chase Austin, scoring Thames as the winning run and the Loggers came back to beat the Huskies 2-1 before 932 fans.
"I can't get him out," said Nihsen, who was ahead in the count 1-2. "No matter where I put it, he is going to hit it."
ADVERTISEMENT
Nihsen (2-2) was trying to save the shutout Schaeffer Hall constructed through eight innings.
"That's the hard part," Nihsen said. "It looks bad for [Hall]. The guys get us an early run and put us in a spot to win and I couldn't get it done."
After a leadoff single to start the game, Hall retired nine straight Loggers. He gave up five hits and struck out two before Huskies manager Adam Stahl removed him.
"[Hall] was at 100 [pitches] and he had a few weeks off," Stahl said. "You have to do right by the kid and we have good guys in the bullpen."
Hall's only other outing was June 2, when he gave up five hits and two runs in eight innings as the Huskies beat Alexandria 3-2. He was then inactivated before returning to the team June 19, according to general manager Craig Smith.
The Huskies took the lead in the first inning as left fielder Chris House, No. 2 in Northwoods League batting at .365 entering Thursday, hit an RBI single over a drawn-in infield. Joey Bonadonna, who led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice, scored on the play.
That was all the Huskies could muster as Loggers starter Sean O'Neill (1-1) retired seven straight batters twice and 20 of the last 22. O'Neill gave up one earned run, three hits with seven strikeouts in eight innings.
"We played better than them through eight innings and they played better through nine," Stahl said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Thames, of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., is hitting .472 in 36 at-bats for the Loggers, but his ninth-inning hit was his first of the day.
"Today was rough," Thames said. "[Hall] was putting it over the plate and it was tough to put a swing on it. It's funny how it works out in the end. It was great."
Duluth stopped a La Crosse scoring threat in the eighth inning. Jesse Hart led off with an infield single and moved to second on a groundout by Dan Bucholz. Hart tried to score on Kyle Van Dusen's single to right, but a throw from Ryan Jones to Tony Plagman to catcher Jason Haniger beat Hart to home by three steps.
"[Jones] has a good arm and he knew the situation and he let it fly," Stahl said.
Don Erdall retired the Huskies' top three batters in order for his seventh save.
The Huskies (13-8) are 2-1 in a season-long six-game homestand that continues at 7:05 p.m. today against La Crosse at Wade Stadium. With the loss, the Huskies relinquished first place in the North Division to St. Cloud (14-8), which beat Mankato 8-3.
