La Crosse Loggers a win away from World Series, going from worst to first

The magic continues for the La Crosse Loggers, who are headed to the Northwoods League playoff semifinals, after sweeping Eau Claire with a 6-2 win Monday from Copeland Park.

If someone would have predicted this in mid-June, they would have been called crazy. At that point, the Loggers had lost 12 consecutive games, after starting the season 3-0.

Now, the Loggers are a win away from the NWL World Series with just the St. Cloud Rox standing in their way. The one-game playoff begins at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday.

The Loggers haven’t had great luck against the Rox — going 2-6 — but there are a couple of things to note.

La Crosse was the worst team in the Northwoods League Great Plains East Division in the first half of the season, going 15-21, including the aforementioned 12-game losing streak.

Then, the Loggers completely flipped, winning the division in the second half of the season with a 27-7 record that included three winning streaks of five or more games. The Rox are 22-12 in second half.

During that second half stretch, La Crosse only played St. Cloud twice, splitting the series — losing 10-3 on Aug. 3, before winning 5-4 the day after at Copeland Park. Of the eight games between the two teams, three were decided by one run and two more games were decided by three runs.

Andrew Regner will get the start for the Loggers against the Rox.

This season, he’s made only three appearances and just one start, which was back on Aug. 6 when he pitched a gem. Wegner got a 1-0 win over the Minnesota Mud Puppies, pitching eight shutout innings, with seven strikeouts, while giving up just three hits and two walks.

His other two appearances were in relief, giving up a combined eight runs in 4 innings.

In Monday’s win over Eau Claire, Brandon Fields had a two-run home run and Brendan Moody picked up the win, pitching seven innings of four-hit, shutout ball with five strikeouts and three walks for the Loggers.