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Published On: June 19th, 2009

Mankato, Minn. – The Mankato MoonDogs continued to roll, as Danny Miller went 3-4 with an RBI and Jimmy Patterson belted a monster home run to give the MoonDogs their fourth sweep of the season with an 8-4 victory over Thunder Bay at The Frank on Friday.

Miller (Minnesota State) got the MoonDog (15-7) offense going early as he belted three singles in each of his first three at-bats. The MoonDogs got out to a 4-1 lead after three innings via RBIs from Miller, Taylor Black (Spartanburg Methodist) and Ryan Durant (Iowa). Scoring first has been a staple of this year’s club as the win moved the MoonDog record to 12-2 when they score first.

In the fifth, Patterson (Central Arizona) belted the longest home run yet this year at the Frank. His two run shot cleared the 383 sign in centerfield and lengthened the MoonDog lead to 6-1 at that point.

The top six in the MoonDog lineup did most of the work, providing all but one of the team’s hits. Tony Strazzara (San Diego) and Durant added two hits, while KC Serna (Oregon) and Strazzara posted two runs apiece.

Ryan Demmin (UW-Oshkosh) secured at least a tie for the league lead in wins, as the southpaw went five innings in allowing just three hits for his fourth win (4-1) of the season. Thunder Bay’s (4-18) Tyler Powell (Belmont Abbey) was tagged for six earned runs on 10 hits through five innings as he fell to 0-2 on the season.

The Border Cats were fairly silent until the ninth when they staged a mini-rally against Tony Manville (Northern Illinois). The Cats pushed two across after putting their first four men on in the inning, but could not get any closer, as Manville induced a double play to end the game.

David Phillips (Ole Miss) and Adam Courcha (New Mexico) posted two hits apiece and Derek Hamblen (Belmont) posted a two-run single in the ninth to pace the Border Cats.

Miller kept his torrid pace going as he is hitting .357 (10-28) with 10 RBI and a home run over the last 10 games.

The MoonDogs will entertain Duluth for the first time this season, while the Border Cats will head back north to face the Alexandria Beetles. Start time for the MoonDogs and Huskies at the Frank will be at 7:05 p.m. while first pitch from north of the border will be at 6:05 p.m.