(7/21/06) A night after the Mankato MoonDogs handed the Duluth Huskies their first loss of the second half, the Huskies struck for two runs in the first inning and never looked back in taking a 6-1 win over the MoonDogs on Friday night.

The MoonDogs mustered only four hits on the night against Huskies starter Andy Marks, who struck out seven and walked none in earning his fifth win of the season. As it turned out, the two runs in the first inning was all the run support he would need.

With one out, Chris House and Brock Bond reached on consecutive singles, and House scored on a sacrifice fly by Tim Murphy. Brock Simpson followed with a double into the right center field gap, and the Huskies led 2-0.

The MoonDogs cut the lead in half with a two-out rally in the second inning, as Sean Halton’s double over the head of center fielder House scored Nate Hanson, who had singled.

It was still a one-run game in the sixth when the MoonDogs’ defense cost them two runs. Chris Nash reached on an error by second baseman Michael Parker, moved to third on a pair of wild pitches by Dan Klous, and scored on a passed ball. Steve Edlefsen was then hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on an error by left fielder Sean Halton.

Duluth tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning against Fabian Gomez, with Edlefsen providing the knockout punch with a triple to score Lars Davis.

Klous (2-4) took the loss for the MoonDogs, allowing just three hits but four runs, two of which were unearned. In an up-and-down outing, Klous struck out six but walked five with two wild pitches.