The Mankato MoonDogs won their fifth straight game as they defeated the Waterloo Bucks to pull into a second-place tie with St. Cloud as they both sit one game back. The top three teams in the South all lost as Rapids fell to Rockford and still hold a 5.5 game lead over Kenosha who was defeated by Madison. The Bullpen of the Chucks shutdown Waterloo as the Lakeshore Chinooks are tied with the Rivets for first in the second half after a win.

Waterloo 2, Mankato 9

The Mankato MoonDogs held off the Waterloo Bucks in the top of the ninth as they went on to win 9-2. Mankato scored right away in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs from an RBI single by Ethan Valdez (Nicholls State). The Bucks got on the board in the third from an RBI single by Dalton Hurd (Seattle), but the MoonDogs answered back for two in the bottom half from a long ball by Zac Wiley (Bellarmine). Mankato got another pair in the fourth from two RBI singles and another on a sac fly in the fifth. The MoonDogs got their final two in the eighth when Kyle Cuellar (UCLA) went deep. The Bucks got a one out run in the top of the ninth after an error and a single, but the next two out of three batters got out to end the game.

Eau Claire 4, La Crosse 12

The La Crosse Loggers poured it on early and often tonight against the Eau Claire Express as they won 12-4. Eau Claire got one in the first when Zach Gilles (Central Michigan) scored on an error, but the Loggers answered for three in the bottom half from a long ball by Korey Lee (California). La Crosse got a two-run single in the third to tie the game, but La Crosse got four in the fourth which included a home run by Jake Hirabayashi (UCLA) and Kennie Taylor (Duke). Both teams traded leadoff home runs by Zach Ashford (Fresno State) and David Villar (South Florida). The Loggers scored another in the sixth and three more from a long ball by Jorge Guiterrez (Texas A&M). The Loggers put two on in the ninth, but got the final two out to end the game.

Bismarck 7, Thunder Bay 4

The Bismarck Larks held off a late rally by the Thunder Bay Border Cats in the bottom of the ninth and won 7-4. The game went scoreless until the top of the fifth when Newt Johnson (South Dakota State) singled in a run and Luke Horanski (Virginia Tech) hit a two-run shot. Bismarck scored three more in the seventh when Cooper Coldiron (Houston) hit a triple and he scored on a ground out and another came home on an RBI single. Johnson scored a run of his own in the eighth, but Thunder Bay answered for one in the eight on an RBI double by Jean-Francois Garon (Bradley). Then with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, Colin Rosenbaum (Belmont Abbey) singled in two for the Border Cats and another scored later, but Bismarck got a double play and strikeout to end the game.

Willmar 6, St. Cloud 2

The Willmar Stingers built an early lead by the fifth and never looked back as they defeated the St. Cloud Rox 6-2. The Stingers got three in the third as Tyler Reichenborn (Iowa Western) scored on a wild pitch and Brady Shockey (USC) hit a two-run shot. Another three scored for Willmar in the fifth in an inning which contained three errors. St. Cloud finally got on the board after the Stingers’ starter Gus Varland (Concordia-St. Paul was pulled after four scoreless. Michael Busch delivered a two-run double in the sixth, but two pitchers threw the final three scoreless to end the game.

Rockford 9, Wisconsin Rapids 6

The Rockford Rivets tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth as they went on to defeat the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters 9-6. Rapids scored a pair right away in the opening inning when Charlie McConnell (Northeastern) came home on a pass ball and Jacson McGowan (Purdue) singled in a run. Brian Klein (Texas Tech) then led off the second with a home run and Bren Spillane (Illinois) came home on a bases loaded walk. Rapids got the lead back in the third with three including a two-run shot by McGowan. The Rivets answered with a two-run shot by Spillane in the fourth and another three in the fifth. Rapids got one back in the bottom half from an RBI single, but the Rockford bullpen threw the final 4.2 scoreless. Zach Watson (LSU) went deep in the ninth for two more for the Rivets which ended up being the final score.

Green Bay 2, Lakeshore 3

The Lakeshore Chinooks walk it off in the bottom of the ninth as they defeated the Green Bay Bullfrogs 3-2. The game went scoreless until the top of the sixth when Austin Havekost (Kent State) gave up an RBI single to Alex Pener (Scottsdale CC) to put the Frogs on the board after throwing five scoreless. Pener drove in another in the eighth, but TJ Raguse (Baylor) put Lakeshore on the board from an RBI single after Michael Bohlke (Bethel) threw the first seven scoreless. With two outs and one on in the bottom of the ninth and the Frogs up by one, Jacob Richardson (Southern Arkansas) hit a two-run home run to win the game for Lakeshore.

Madison 8, Kenosha 2

The Madison Mallards retook the lead in the sixth and never looked back as they defeated the Kenosha Kingfish 8-2. Madison scored right away in the opening inning when Sam Armstrong (Jacksonville) singled in a run. The Kingfish tied the game in the bottom half from a leadoff home run by Tyler Paulsen (Illinois State). Kenosha took the lead when Paulsen delivered again, but this time from an RBI single. The Mallards tied it in the fifth from a sac fly and took the lead with a pair in the sixth including an RBI double by Cole Daily (Notre Dame). Doran Turchin (Illinois) led off the seventh with a home run and Zac Taylor (Illinois) went deep for three in the eighth. The Mallards then got the side to go down in-order in the ninth to end the game.

Wisconsin 3, Battle Creek 2

The Wisconsin Woodchucks got a gem out of Korey Rasure (Texas A&M-CC) as they went on to defeat the Battle Creek Bombers 3-2. The Chucks scored first in the fourth when Logan Foster (Texas A&M) came home on an RBI ground out. Foster and Stevie Mangrum (Virginia Tech) scored unearned runs in the sixth to put the Woodchucks up by three. Tom Stoffel (Virginia Tech) then put Battle Creek on the board with a two-run dinger in the eight. Lenny Gwizadala (Northwood) and Orsen Josephina answered as they pitched a scoreless ninth as Josephina picked up his 14th save.

Duluth 16, Rochester 9

The Rochester Honkers poured it on in the sixth as they went on to defeat the Duluth Huskies 16-9. The Honkers scored four right away in the bottom of the first from the long ball by Zach Zubia (Texas) and Mike Echavia (Nevada). Luke Roskam (Nebraska) put Duluth on the board with an RBI single in the third and they got another in the fourth from a sac fly. Duluth tied the game in the fifth from back-to-back RBI doubles by Roskam and Chase Strumpf (UCLA). Zubia went deep again in the fifth for a three-run shot. The Huskies tied it again in the sixth from an error and two RBI singles, but the Honkers went off for six in the bottom half. Morgan McCullough (Oregon) got things going with an RBI single. Two bases loaded walks, a hit by pitch and pass ball brought in the rest of the runs. Duluth got a pair of runs in the eight when Andrew Robinson (Western Carolina) went deep, but Rochester got three more form two errors. The Huskies went in-order in the ninth as the Honkers went on to win the game.

Fond du Lac 3, Kalamazoo 8

The Kalamazoo Growlers got a complete game from Kyle Drabick (Kent State) as they defeated the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders 8-3. The Growlers got a pair of runs in the bottom of the first as Connor Hollis (Houston) hit an RBI single and scored from an RBI single. The Spiders got one back in the second, but Kalamazoo got another pair in the second when Jack Duffy (Missouri State) went deep. The Growlers got four more in the fifth from three RBI singles. Fondy got lead off home runs in the seventh and eighth by Eric Gilgenbach (Notre Dame) and Brandon Wulf, but Drabick got the ninth to go in-order to earn himself the win.

 

Schedule July 16:

Duluth @ Rochester (1:05 PM)

Bismarck @ Thunder Bay (1:35 PM)

Wisconsin @ Battle Creek (2:05 PM)

Fond du Lac @ Kalamazoo (3:05 PM)

Willmar @ St. Cloud (4:05 PM)

Kenosha @ Madison (4:05 PM)

Rockford @ Wisconsin Rapids (4:05 PM)

Lakeshore @ Green Bay (4:05 PM)

Eau Claire @ La Crosse (5:05 PM)

Waterloo @ Mankato (6:05 PM)