Kingfish Fall 11-7 In Extra Inning Home Opener

There was energy and excitement at historic Simmons Field tonight, both on and off the field as it was the inaugural season home opener. It was a sold out crowd of 3,218 Kingfish fans and they got their money’s worth as it went into extra innings. Even with the support of the community, the Kingfish couldn’t hold on and fell to the Mankato MoonDogs 11-7.

The MoonDogs scored first in the 4^th inning and held the lead until the 6^th. Chris Godinez (Bradley) hit a two-run homer as part of the three-run 6^th inning. The Kingfish had the lead by one until the 8^th inning when Ridge Smith homered to tie it up. The trouble for the Kingfish were errors. On the night, the Kingfish had a total of 6 errors, three of them coming in the 11^th inning.

The MoonDogs homered to go ahead 7-4 and scored four more to make their lead 11-4.  The Kingfish fought back valiantly thanks to three walks given up by MoonDogs pitcher Jacob Westerhouse but couldn’t make a comeback to take the win.

Kingfish starter J.D Nielson pitched for 5 and 2/3^rd inning and struck out three. Pitching changes were a common occurrence throughout the game and Paul Schuster will take the loss for the Kingfish while Westerhouse will get the win.

Tomorrow night, Simmons Field will be alive again for the second game of the series against the MoonDogs. First pitch is at 5:05 p.m.

The Kingfish office is located at 7817 Sheridan Road and is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. For more information on 7-game packs, season or group tickets, please log on to kingfishbaseball.com or call 262.653.0900.