Loggers

It's only the halfway point of the season for the La Crosse Loggers, but with the way that things are set up in the Northwoods League, it's the biggest game of the season at the Lumberyard tonight. Tuesday night's game provided for an interesting prelude to tonight's contest, as Michael Katz provided the dramatic walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning. Katz roped the pitch into left center field, and it took a spectacular slide by Kevin Zak to evade the tag and give the Loggers the victory. Starting pitcher Ben Cejka battled tough for three innings, and then Bobby Juan - who left to a standing ovation and a "Bobby! Bobby!" chant-  and Jonathan Van Eaton threw six scoreless innings to keep the Madison Mallards at bay. Johnny Bekakis, who has kind of developed a flair for the dramatic this season, hit a shot - a game tying home run - in the bottom of the fifth inning, and from there on out it was a defensive dual. Bekakis and Mike Nadratowski had a slew of great defensive plays in the outfield, but it was Nadratowski that was robbed on a highlight-reel circus catch by Mallards centerfielder Luke Meeteer on a potential go-ahead hit in the eighth inning. Drama all around at the Lumberyard last night, and I'm expecting another great one tonight. There were over 2,800 fans at Copeland Park last night, and the players really feed off that energy. A big crowd tonight could really help the Loggers onto victory tonight.