Mankato 4 – Alexandria 0

The Mankato MoonDogs took one step closer to a first half North Division title. The Dogs used clutch two-out hitting and a league leading sixth shutout of the year for a 4-0 victory over second-place Alexandria Saturday night at Franklin Rogers Park. Up 1-0, the MoonDogs (19-9) pulled away in the sixth innings with three runs with two outs. With Brenden Webb (Palomar) on third and Kyle Knudson (Minnesota) on first, Ryan Durant (Iowa) chopped a ball through the left side past a diving Vance Albitz (UC San Diego) for a 2-0 lead. AJ Pettersen (Minnesota) followed that with a double that scored both Knudson and Durant for the final 4-0 margin. The MoonDog pitching staff regained its form a day after blowing a four-run lead in Duluth. Zach Whitman (Georgia Southwestern) picked up his third win (3-1) by allowing three hits and striking out nine in five and two-thirds innings. The MoonDog pen squelched any hope of a Beetle (16-13) comeback, as Adam Jung (Central Arizona), Jimmy Patterson (Central Arizona) and Tony Manville (Northern Illinois) held Alexandria hitless over the last three and one-thirds innings. Durant led all hitters with a 3-4 night that included two runs and an RBI. Cody Fick (Evansville) also recorded two hits for the MoonDogs, who improved to 12-2 at home and a perfect 16-0 when leading after seven innings. Mitch Handley (North Alabama) suffered the loss for the Beetles, falling for the first time at 2-1 on the season. Albitz, Mikel Alvarez (Florida Gulf Coast) and Tim Roberson (Florida Gulf Coast) accounted for the lone Beetle hits.

Rochester 9 – Thunder Bay 2

The NWL’s leading hitter, Rance Roundy (UNLV), hit for the cycle against Thunder Bay tonight to help the Honkers get back in the win column. His four hits and four RBI paced Rochester to a 9-2 win, and lifted the Honkers to 15-12 on the season. With the loss the Border Cats fell to a North Division worst 6-23. Roundy delivered a single in the first inning and a RBI double in the third that tied the game at 1-1, but the biggest piece of his cycle came in the fifth. After Corey Jones (Cal State Fullerton) led off the inning with a single, Roundy followed with his fourth homer of the year to give Rochester a 3-1 lead. The game was delayed due to rain shortly after his homer, but the hit seemed to light a fire under the Honkers offense. Rochester scored another run in the inning after play resumed, and pushed across five more over the next two innings to break the game wide open. The last of the five runs came on the final piece of Roundy’s cycle, an RBI triple in the seventh that made the score 9-2 and capped the scoring. But Roundy had hardly the only hot bat for the Honkers. Jones had three hits and scored three runs while driving in two more. William Arnold (Central Michigan) and Drew Beuerlein (UNLV) also each had a pair of hits, and Arnold scored two runs while Beuerlein picked up two RBI of his own. In all the team finished with 14 hits. It takes more than just hot bats to earn a win, though, and Rochester starter Brian Flynn kept the game close before the offense explosion midway through. Over five strong innings, he allowed just a single run and only two hits, while striking out three to earn the win and move to 3-1 on the year. Scott McGough (Oregon) pitched two innings of relief allowing just one run and getting five of his six outs by way of the strikeout, and Jay Johnson (Prairie Baseball Academy) and Arik Sikula (Marshall) combined to blank the Cats over the final two frames to complete the win. Thunder Bay had less luck on the mound, as their starter Colin Bear (Northwestern State) only lasted four innings and allowed four runs to take the loss, and a pair of relievers allowed five runs over three innings before Christian Dekker (NW Missouri State) was able to blank Rochester over the final two frames.

La Crosse 10 – Battle Creek 9

Errors plagued the Battle Creek Bombers Saturday night, as they fell to the La Crosse Loggers by the final score 10-9. The Loggers trailed the entire game, but closed the gap with a five-run sixth and took the lead with a four-run eighth inning. The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for the Bombers, and the win ends a two-game losing streak for the Loggers. Down 9-6 in the top of the eighth, the Loggers put together a four-run rally to take their first lead of the game. The Loggers batted around, getting three hits and taking advantage of two Bombers errors. Robert Brantly (UC- Riverside) brought the tying run across the plate, and left fielder Aaron Gates (Pepperdine) drove in the eventual game winning run with a one-out RBI single. Gates led the Loggers’ offense, going 3-5 with a double and 2 RBI. The Bombers had dominated the game until the sixth inning, but the defense gave the Loggers some extra outs to work with. The Bombers committed two errors in the sixth and eighth innings, leading to five unearned runs. The Bombers’ offense did all they could, tallying a season high 18 hits and scoring 9 runs, but in the end it wasn’t enough.

Eau Claire 1 – Green Bay 0 (10 Innings)

In a pitchers duel during regulation, it took an extra inning before Eau Claire pushed the games only run across the plate in a 1-0 win over Green Bay on Saturday night at Jones Sign Field at Joannes Stadium. Eau Claire (19-6) used the small ball approach in the final frame when Bobby Rinard (Yavapai) hit a single, prior to being sacrificed to second and advancing to third on a groundout. He eventually scored the game winner on a Nolan Fadness (UW-Oshkosh) single through the left side of the infield. Bullfrogs’ starter Zach Varce (Portland) and Express’ front runner Jon Ringenberg (Baylor) went head-to-head through seven innings scattering five hits apiece, while combining to strike out 12 batters. Neither team could find a way to plate a run all evening, as Green Bay (13-15) left six runners in scoring position – two at third base – while the Express left five with a chance to score – also with two at third base. Eau Claire was led by Fadness who went 3-for-5 at the plate to go along with a stolen base. Lucas Herbst (Santa Clara) also recorded a steal and added a pair of hits. Nick O’Shea (Minnesota) and Aaron Conway (Missouri State) each tallied two hits for the Bullfrogs, while Conway stole a base to push his league leading total to 24 steals. Devan Kline (Central Michigan) earned the win after striking out two in a shutout 10th inning. Matthew Kimball (Brown) was credited with the loss giving up two hits and the games only run. Varce recorded nine strikeouts to increase his league leading strikeout total to 60 on the season – 21 more than second place. He now owns the Green Bay single season record for strikeouts in a season. The previous record was held by Dave Roberts who fanned 59 during the 2007 inaugural season.

Waterloo 8 – Wisconsin 4

The Waterloo Bucks rallied for three runs in the fourth and three more in the sixth as they handed the Wisconsin Woodchucks their third straight loss by a final score of 8-4 Saturday night at Athletic Park. The ‘Chucks grabbed the early lead in the second, posting three hits en route to taking the early 2-0 lead. The Bucks cut the lead in half with a run in the top of the third, but their offense really came alive in the top of the fourth. In that frame, the Bucks scored three runs, highlighted by a two-run home run from Josh Lyon. Wisconsin responded with a single run in the bottom of the fifth when Jeremy Richter (UW-Stevens Point) singled home Kale Kiser (Nebraska). The Bucks answered right back with three more runs in the top of the sixth and took a 7-3 lead. The Woodchucks did get a run in the bottom of the sixth, but were not able to put together a big rally as they eventually dropped the game 8-4. Mike Marshall (Stanford) took the loss in his first start of the season. He went 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Jeremy Brewer threw the final 3.2, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits. Scott Williams picked up his second victory after allowing four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Jared Wagoner (Butler) and Bob Lackovic (Creighton) shutout the Woodchucks over the final three innings. Kiser finished the day 3-for-5 for the Woodchucks, who finished the game with eight hits. The Bucks got four singles from Frazier Hall (Southern) and multi-hit games from four different hitters.

Madison 19 – Brainerd 8

The Madison Mallards brought nine or more men to the plate on three separate occasions and pounded out 13 hits to defeat the Lunkers, 19-8 in front of 6,112 fans at Warner Park. The Lunkers struck first blood in the first. Dennis O’Grady (Duke) singled to start the game and eventually scored on a wild pitch to put the Lunkers up, 1-0. The Mallards answered in the bottom half of the inning by batting around for four runs. After an RBI single by Joe Patterson (Texas A&M) tied things up at 1-1, Harold Riggins (NC State) stepped up and hammered an opposite field 3-run shot to right to put the Mallards on top, 4-1. The Lunkers responded by batting around in the second and then some. Twelve batters came to the plate in all and seven runs crossed in what amounted to a short outing for Mallard starter Matt Jansen. J.R. Graham (Santa Clara) came in to relieve Jansen and got the final out of the inning despite giving up a slow-rolling single up the middle. He then went on to pitch three more scoreless innings while giving up only two hits and a walk. The Madison bullpen of Graham, Jordan Hershiser (USC), Joe Yermal (Charlotte) and Cody Winiarski (MATC) combined to go 7.1 scoreless innings, giving up just three hits while striking out three and walking three. In the sixth, Madison hit four singles, a double, and a two-run homer to go up by three. In the seventh, a solo homer made the lead four, and in the eighth, they put the game on ice with a seven-run inning that featured four walks and another home run. For Madison Mark Ginther (Oklahoma State) finished 3-for-5 with 3 runs scored, 3 RBI and his 4th and 5th home runs of the year. Harold Riggins (NC State) was 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored, 5 RBI, and 1 home run which was his fifth of the year as well.

St. Cloud 12 – Duluth 0

With a six-run sixth inning and a four-run seventh, the St. Cloud River Bats (12-17) routed the Duluth Huskies (12-16) 12-0 at Joe Faber Field. The game-changing sixth inning saw 10 Bats come to the plate in a six-hit effort. Zac Richard (Xavier), Brian Humphries (Peppederine) and Adam Weisenburger (Miami of Ohio) added RBI singles and Nick Longmire (Pacific) knocked in two in the inning against Duluth right-hander Chris Jensen (San Diego). Pedro Ramos (Glendale C.C.) got the win for the Bats tossing eight scoreless innings of two-hit baseball while striking out six. Jensen (1-1) got the loss for the Huskies, surrendering all six runs in the sixth. The Bats added four-more in the seventh inning, a frame that featured a two-RBI double from Richard and an RBI single from Weisenburger, who finished 3-for-5 with three RBI. Richard was 2-for-4 on the night with three RBI, giving him a team high 14 runs batted in. Jonathan Roof (Michigan State) added three hits out of the three hole and Danny Oh (Cal-Berkeley) reached base five times. With the game out of reach, Drew Palen (Penn State) tossed a scoreless ninth inning.