(8/5/06) With their backs against the wall and fired up by a controversial play, the Mankato MoonDogs rallied to win a game they needed to win to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Nate Hanson tripled and scored on Sean Halton’s 12th inning single to give the MoonDogs a 5-4 win Saturday night. The MoonDogs handed the Duluth Huskies just their fourth loss in 26 games of the season’s second half. Three of those four losses have come at the hands of the MoonDogs, who also gave the Huskies their first loss at Wade Stadium since July 2. With the win, the MoonDogs staved off being eliminated from postseason consideration, drawing within 6½ games of the first-place Huskies with nine games to play.

Mankato had to rally three times to overcome Duluth on Saturday, and also had to overcome the loss of their catcher, Ben Geelan, who was involved in a collision at home plate with Duluth’s Brock Bond. As a result of the play, Bond was immediately ejected, and both benches cleared as Geelan lay motionless at the plate. After approximately a 10-minute delay, during which MoonDogs left fielder Ryan Addison was also ejected, Geelan was transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center, where he underwent a precautionary MRI and was later released. Geelan has since returned to his home in Algona, Iowa and is planning to rejoin the MoonDogs on Wednesday for their last home game following some more precautionary tests on his back.

Trailing 3-2 in the sixth, Shane Buschini drove his third home run of the season and 12th of his MoonDogs career over the high wall in right field to tie the score. Earlier, Buschini had spearheaded a MoonDogs rally in the second with a double, which was followed by an RBI double by Hanson and an RBI single by James Keithley.

After the Huskies quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, the MoonDogs again rallied to tie the game in the seventh. Tim Smith walked after a Keithley single, and Chris Henault’s single tied the score at 4-4.

The Huskies had an chance to win the game in the ninth, when they loaded the bases with consecutive walks against Josh Rohrich, who then fell behind in the count 3-1 before battling back to induce a pop-up to end the inning. Rohrich (2-0) ended up earning the win by not allowing a hit over 2.2 innings. Tom Porter pitched a scoreless 12th to record his second save.