(7/5/06) The month of July may only be five days old, but it has not been kind to the Mankato MoonDogs.

Bryan Cartie went 3-for-5 with a home run, Ryan Curry added three hits, and James Leverton also hit a home run, leading the St. Cloud River Bats to a 7-3 win Wednesday night. The MoonDogs dropped to 0-5 in July.

Leverton put the River Bats ahead with his homer to lead off the second inning, and St. Cloud never looked back. The River Bats added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings against MoonDogs starter Tyson Brummett (0-3). Brummett allowed three earned runs on six hits in six plus innings.

Cartie’s home run in the third, a towering drive that barely carried over the wall in left, gave the River Bats a 2-0 lead. Leverton scored on a throwing error by MoonDogs third baseman Chris Brown in the fourth as St. Cloud built a 3-0 advatange.

Matt Mossey’s first home run of the season drew the MoonDogs within 3-1, but the River Bats came right back in the fifth to add a run on a double play ball. The MoonDogs again got within two runs in the sixth on Tim Smith’s RBI double, which came on the heels of two sensational defensive plays made by shortstop Chris Henault in the top of the inning. On consecutive batters, Henault went deep into the hole, once to his right, then to his left, to rob the River Bats of base hits.

With St. Cloud still leading 4-2 in the ninth, Pat Mahoney singled with the bases loaded, and left fielder Sean Halton overran the ball for a two-base error, allowing all three runners to score. The MoonDogs added a run in their half of the ninth on a Henault double for the final margin.