Duluth Huskies Split Doubleheader against Thunder Bay
July 9, 2025 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Duluth Huskies News Release
DULUTH, Minn. - The Huskies split the doubleheader against the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Wednesday, taking the first contest 6-3, but falling in game two, 6-2.
Fresh off win number 30 of the season on Tuesday night, the first team in the entire Northwoods League to reach that mark, the Huskies kept the momentum going with their seventh win in a row to begin the doubleheader.
Per usual, the Huskies jumped out to a big early lead with two runs in the first, and three more in the second frame. Rowan Kelly began Duluth's offensive showing with a base hit, and later scored the first run of the day on an RBI single by Ethan Surowiec. A few batters later, Paul Contreras delivered an RBI hit of his own to plate Surowiec for a 2-0 advantage.
The big hit in the second for the Huskies came to begin the inning. Kingsley Guthrie crushed a baseball to center field, and ended up on third base with a ringing triple. That allowed him to score on a Tyler Palmer fielder's choice which preceded another hit by Kelly, this time a run-scoring double to the right-center gap. In Surowiec's second at bat, he recorded a second RBI knock, and the Huskies led 5-0 very early in the ballgame.
That was all the run support Danny Hesse needed as the Huskies' starting pitcher. Despite a healthy amount of traffic all outing long, Hesse left with a 5-2 lead after five innings, positioning himself nicely for the win. Brode Gann followed with two shutout relief innings in a great bounce-back outing for the new bullpen arm.
The Border Cats were able to get a third run scratched across in the eighth inning off of Lou Rivera in his debut, but the Huskies responded immediately with a run of their own in the bottom of the eighth.
Rowan Kelly's fourth hit of the game moved Guthrie from first to third, where he then scored on Ethan Cole's second hit of the day. The Huskies led 6-3 heading into the ninth inning.
That's when Lou Rivera slammed the door shut on the Cats with a 1-2-3 inning, sealing the three run victory for Duluth in game one.
Game two began pretty similarly for the Huskies with runs in the first and second inning.
The duo of Ethan Surowiec and Noah Furcht got the job done in the first inning when Surowiec singled with two outs. He then stole second base, got to third on a balk, and finally scored on a sharp hit single by Furcht into center field.
When the Border Cats responded in the next half inning with a run off starter Kolby Heskett, the Huskies had his back with another tally mark in the bottom of the second.
Paul Contreras stayed hot with a single to open up the inning. Much like Surowiec did in the inning prior, Contreras took it upon himself to move around the bases. He stole second and got to third on a wild pitch. That allowed Nate Novitske to chop one to the second baseman for an RBI groundout and a 2-1 lead.
Unfortunately for the Huskies, that was the last time they led. Thanks to some command issues by Heskett, and more uncharacteristic poor defense by the Huskies infield, the Border Cats tied the game up once more in the top of the third. Another error helped Thunder Bay break out with a big inning in the fifth, taking the lead for good with three runs.
The Huskies would ultimately not be able to recover as their offense fell silent once again after the first two frames. Another Border Cats run in the eighth inning was the dagger as Duluth fell 6-2 in game two.
On Deck:
The game two loss broke the seven game winning streak for the Huskies and moved their record to 31-15. They'll look to start another streak on Thursday night with the first game of the season against the Bismarck Larks. First pitch at Wade Stadium is set for 6:35 p.m.
Northwoods League Stories from July 9, 2025
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