Rochester, MN – The MoonDogs were held to just two hits on the night, as the Honkers shut out Mankato at Mayo Field Friday night by a score of 5-0.
The final run of the game was scored by the Rochester Honkers (3-0, 20-14) in the eighth inning, with William Paschal, 2-for-3, singling in Slade Heggen with one out to make the score 5-0 against the Mankato MoonDogs (0-3, 18-18), which would be the final.
Rochester got out to a quick lead in the first and second innings, with two runs scored in each. In the second, Dempsey Grover, 3-for-4, scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Adam Walton, while William Paschal scored on a wild pitch thrown by MoonDogs starter Conner O’Neil (1-3).
In the first inning with two outs, Joe Duffin and Mark Contreras hit back-to-back home runs to help the Honkers to an early 2-0 lead.
Mankato would be held to just two hits in the game, coming off the bats of Kyle Weston and Brinn Bell. They would add four walks to the mix while overall stranding six runners on base for the game.
Matt Fiedler (1-2) would earn the win, throwing six innings of shutout baseball with just two hits to go along with four walks and four strikeouts. Rick Delgado, Greg Jakusik, and Spencer Greer would combine for three innings pitched, with three strikeouts to finish up the game for Fiedler. They would not allow a hit as a collective.
Conner O’Neil would go 4 1/3 innings for the MoonDogs, allowing four runs (all earned) on six hits while walking just one. O’Neil would strike out five Honkers on the evening. Ricky Ramirez would come in on relief, allowing four hits and one earned run over 3 2/3 innings, issuing one walk and striking out eight in the appearance.
Mankato will get July 4th off before going on the road to face the Duluth Huskies (1-2, 20-16) for two games. First pitch on Sunday will be at 5:05 PM. You can listen to all of the action with Shawn Murnin on The Fan Mankato starting at 4:45 PM with the MoonDogs pregame show.
"The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (OAK). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website."
