Wausau Woodchucks baseball wins wild one over Duluth

For Wausau Pilot & Review

WAUSAU – The Wausau Woodchucks baseball team salvaged a split of its two-game home series with the Duluth Huskies, winning 15-9 on Sunday afternoon at Athletic Park.

The win puts the Woodchucks at 25-8 with one final series left in the first half of the season.

The Huskies opened the scoring again on a solo home run in the first inning. The Chucks would answer with two in the bottom half on a four-hit inning that scored Isaac Webb (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and Drew Berkland (Minnesota).

Wausau added one run in the second and three in the third. Webb scored again in the second, and Jonah St. Antoine (Pittsburgh) and Jake Berkland (Mankato St.) both had RBI in the third. The Chucks led 7-1 after three.

In the fourth, the Huskies rattled Wausau starter Edwin Alicea (Nova Southeastern), who had been solid through three. They sent 14 batters to the plate and put an eight spot on the Chucks. Cutter Clawson (BYU) would come in and end the half inning with the Chucks trailing 9-7.

With the momentum going in the Huskies’ direction, Wausau would dig deep and take the back the lead. With two outs and two runners on, Bryce Hubbard (Georgia) launched his third homer of the season. His blast to right field gave the Chucks a 10-9 lead.

The Chucks would continue their scoring ways, putting up one more in the fifth. Christian Smith-Johnson (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) led off with a double and scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-9.

Wausau added four more in the sixth, making it six straight innings with a run. The Chucks sent 10 batters, and had two hits and RBI from St. Antoine, Smith-Johnson and Webb to up their lead to 15-9.

Carson Plumadore (Georgia Southwestern St.) came in to retire one batter in the seventh and escape a bases loaded jam. He would pitch the eighth and ninth innings to finish the game.

The Chucks will play Monday at Madison for Game 1 of the home-and-home series. The Chucks have a one-game lead over Madison in the Great Lakes West Division with two games to go in the half and can clinch a playoff berth with a victory. Game time is 6:05 p.m. The two teams will head to Wausau on Tuesday to wrap up the series and the first half with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch at Athletic Park. Free hot dogs will be available for fans for the first 90 minutes after the gates open.