Published On: June 8th, 2009

Mankato 3 – Thunder Bay 1

Ryan Demmin was nearly untouchable and Lance Ray provided the only runs the MoonDogs would need, as the ‘Dogs topped Thunder Bay 3-1 Monday evening at Franklin Rogers Park for their third straight win. Demmin (UW-Oshkosh) threw seven strong innings, allowing just three hits and striking out nine Border Cat hitters to move to 2-1 on the season. Adam Jung (Central Arizona) threw the last two innings, striking out three to record his first save. The MoonDogs (7-4) jumped on top of a road-weary Thunder Bay squad with two runs in the bottom of the first. With Tony Strazara (San Diego) on first and Ryan Durant (Iowa) on second, Ray (Western Nevada) laced a deep shot to center field that hit the base of the wall to plate both runners. Strazzara was the lone MoonDog with multiple hits, going 2-2 with a run. Nick Judkins (Iowa Central) saw his five-game hit streak end, as he was 0-3. Judkins came into the game hitting a team-best .357.

Wisconsin 1 – Green Bay 0

Mother Nature has not been kind to the state of Wisconsin in the past week and it didn’t help Monday night as the Wisconsin Woodchucks took a rain shorted contest, 1-0, over the Green Bay Bullfrogs inside Athletic Park. As both teams battled the elements, it was the Woodchucks (4-7) who managed a run in the bottom of the fifth inning before the game was called after a 20 minute rain delay, due to unsafe field conditions. This was after the game was postponed an hour in an attempt to dry the field. The Woodchucks marked the scoreboard with the games only run, when Kale Kiser (Nebraska) hit an infield RBI single. Chris Slater (Baylor) scored on the play after he reached on a walk and advanced to third on a two-base throwing error. On the mound both Zach Varce (Portland) and Bryce Shafer (Valparaiso) battled it out through the soggy conditions, combining to strike out 14 batters. Varce (0-2) took the loss for Green Bay (5-6), but did strike out eight, as he continues to lead the Northwoods League in strikeouts with 30. Aaron Conway (Missouri State) led the Bullfrogs with a 2-for-3 performance. Shafer earned his first victory on the mound this season, to go with six strikeouts. Kiser led the Wisconsin offense going 2-for-3 along with the games only RBI.

Rochester 1 – La Crosse 0

Zach Robertson (Iowa), Matt Mullendore (Hamline) and Arik Sikula (Marshall) combined to shut out the Loggers and P.J. Sequeira, who arrived in Rochester just a few hours before the game, crushed a solo home run over the wall in left-center to give the Honkers a 1-0 lead in the first game of their six-game home-stand—the season’s longest. The Honkers are now 6-5, while La Crosse fell to the same mark of 6-5. Robertson ended up with seven innings allowing just four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. The Loggers’ starter, Aaron Gates (Pepperdine) had more trouble with walks, issuing five free passes, but struck out eight allowing just two hits in his six innings of work. He was nearly perfect when he didn’t walk the hitters, and had allowed only a single base hit to Rochester on a questionable scoring decision (the ball went under the glove of a fielder) prior to getting two outs in the sixth inning. At that point Sequeira came up and drilled a pitch over the wall in left-center to score the only run of the game and give Rochester the 1-0 win. Mullendore and Sikula combined to toss two scoreless innings of relief allowing two hits and striking out three to end the game. Sikula pitched the ninth and earned his third save of the season. Robertson got the win to go to 2-1, while the loss went to Gates to send his record to 1-1. Sequeira finished at 1-for-3, and Austin Knight (Dallas Baptist) went 3-for-4 for La Crosse.

Battle Creek 6 – Madison 0

For the first time in team history the Battle Creek Bombers take sole possession of first place in the Northwoods League, shutting out the Madison Mallards tonight 6-0. A brief shower after the first inning delayed the game for 10 minutes, but nothing was going to slow down the Bombers tonight. In the second inning the Bombers  batted around, using 3 hits, 2 hit batsmen, 1 walk and an error to score 4 runs. This proved to be all of the offense Battle Creek needed, shutting out their opponent for the 2nd time this season. Starting pitcher James Jones (John A. Logan) had yet another outstanding night, striking out 4 batters in 6.1 innings of work.  James has now gone 14.1 innings without surrendering a run. In the fourth inning the Mallards came close to breaking the shutout, getting runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. But left fielder Chas Anthony (Erskine) made two outstanding plays to keep the Mallards off the scoreboard. After a single to left, Anthony quickly got the ball to 3rd baseman Kyle Behrendt (Wofford College), who threw Mallards runner Harold Riggins (NC State) out at home. The next batter popped the ball up to shallow left, but Anthony made a sliding catch to end the inning with the shutout intact. At the plate, the Bombers put together 11 hits to score 6 runs. Two of those hits came from designated hitter Chris Lewis (Western Michigan), who extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Josh Valle (Marshall) also had a big night for the Bombers, going 3-5 and scoring 2 runs.

Brainerd 6 – Alexandria 2

The Lunkers combined for 14 hits on the night, including five doubles, to knock off the Alexandria Beetles, 6-2 at Knute Nelson Park. Starter Michael Gedman (UMass) threw six solid innings on the mound, struck out five, and picked up his second victory in a Lunkers uniform. Offensively, the addition of Michael Kvasnicka (Minnesota) proved vital in the win. Kvasnicka went 3-4 at the plate with two singles and a double, and scored a run to pace the Lunkers. Shortstop Stephen Wickens (Florida Gulf Coast) reached base four times and scored three of the six runs on the evening as well. In addition, Andrew Gudmunson (North Dakota) finished 2-4 with a double and run scored.

Waterloo 9 – St. Cloud 7

The River Bats (3-8) cut an 8-0 deficit to two, before falling 9-7 to Waterloo (2-9) in front of 1,187 fans at Joe Faber Field.

Eau Claire @ Duluth (Ppd)

Cold temperatures and rain during the day led the Duluth Huskies to postpone their game with the Eau Claire Express. A double header will be played at Wade Stadium on Tuesday beginning at 4:05 p.m.

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