For Wausau Pilot & Review
DULUTH, Minn. – The Wausau Woodchucks made it five wins in a row and two-straight series sweeps, after defeating Duluth 9-2 on Friday night in a matchup of Northwoods League baseball teams that had not played each other since 2016.
Wausau improves to 15-3 this season and maintains a 2½-game lead in the Great Lakes West Division standings.
The first two innings looked like a pitchers’ duel, a rare occurrence for the hot Woodchucks bats. Chris Scinta (Miami) sat down three batters via strikeout and gave up just one hit through two innings for Wausau.
The Woodchucks returned to normal form when they plated two runs in the third inning. Daniel Harden (McClennan Comm. College) rocketed a single up the middle and the speedy Christian Smith-Johnson (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and Jake Berkland (Mankato St.) were able to open the scoring for the Chucks. The base hit was huge for Harden, who had just five hits this season prior to tonight.
The bases were busy as the Chucks loaded them up in the sixth after a base hit and a pair of walks. With ducks on the pond and two outs, Brayden Smith (Iowa Western Comm. College) walked on four pitches. The Chucks would strand three and led 3-0.
Jake Berkland reached on a single in the seventh, stole second and came around on two-straight wild pitches, upping Wausau’s lead to 4-1.
Clutch-time insurance runs were the name of the game as Smith-Johnson came across due to three-straight Chucks’ singles. The Huskies shot themselves in the foot throwing two straight wild pitches, allowing Jake Berkland and Jonah St. Antoine (Pittsburgh) to score. Max Galvin would add another on a sacrifice fly sending Harden home.
Max Soliz Jr. put the icing on the cake and made it a five-run inning on a solo home run, his second of the season. The Chucks allowed one run in the ninth, but it wouldn’t matter, and the hottest team in the Northwoods made it look easy in Duluth once again.
Up next the Chucks will head to Canada to take on the Thunder Bay Border Cats, leaders of the Great Plains East Division at 11-5, on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. and Sunday at 1:35 p.m. After that, it’s back to Athletic Park on Tuesday to take on Lakeshore for Hot Dog Hundo night. Buy a hot dog and give yourself a chance to find one wrapped with $100. Game time is 6:35 p.m.
