Huskies Drop Home Opener to La Crosse, Fall to 1-4
Northwoods Duluth Huskies

Huskies Drop Home Opener to La Crosse, Fall to 1-4

Published on May 29, 2026 under Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Duluth Huskies News Release


Duluth, Minn. - The Duluth Huskies dropped a close home opener to the La Crosse Loggers at Wade Stadium Friday night. The Loggers took the victory 5-4 to move to a 5-0 record, their best since at least 2009. The Huskies drop to 1-4 for the second consecutive season. La Crosse has now taken all three games against the Huskies.

La Crosse got off to a hot start, plating three runs in the top of the first. Duluth starter Luke Harrington struggled with control, walking three and allowing two hits including an Eli Small single that contributed to his four hit day. Harrington was eventually charged with the loss.

Duluth battled back after that, with reliever Abe Ahlberg posting three scoreless innings in relief. Offensively for the Huskies, their first run came across in the form of shortstop Anthony Zarzana, courtesy of center fielder Anthony Cepeda's RBI groundout.

In the fifth, both teams brought in new pitchers who struggled in their first inning of work. Duluth brought in Cameron Johnson to replace Ahlberg. Johnson allowed the first three hitters to reach, including two runs crossing on a Max Kalk single. Johnson settled down and worked two quiet innings of work after that.

La Crosse replaced starter Donovan Becerra, who worked four innings of one run ball, with Adam Hayes. Hayes allowed the first four to reach in the home half of the fifth, loading the bases on free passes before a Cepeda two-run single reinstated a two run La Crosse lead. However, Cepeda was caught stealing to help quell the inning and the lead was 5-3 in La Crosse's favor after five.

The late innings flew by, with both teams posting zeroes in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Duluth shut down La Crosse in the ninth thanks to a rare right field-to-pitcher double play. In the home half of the final frame, Benji Kautto reached as the leadoff man and came around to score two batters later on a Zarzana sacrifice fly. With two outs in the inning, Kristall and Cepeda both reached, but Dalton Smith struck out Duluth's Jalen Smith to earn the save.

On Deck

The Huskies will play La Crosse in the series finale on Saturday, May 30 at 5:05 p.m. CT at Wade Stadium. Following tomorrow's affair, Duluth will hit the road for a quartet of games in North Dakota, with two each against Badlands and Bismark. The Huskies return home on Thursday, June 4th against the Eau Claire Express. You can catch all the Huskies action, home or away, on FloSports.

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Northwoods League Stories from May 29, 2026


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