Mankato, Minn. – In their final regular season game, the Mankato MoonDogs lost to the Thunder Bay Border Cats, 16-5 at Franklin Rogers Park.

MoonDogs starting pitcher Joel Pulliam (Central) suffered his first loss of the season. Pulliam pitched three innings, and gave up five runs on eight hits. Thunder Bay starter John Straka (NDSU) was the winning pitcher, giving up eight hits and one run in six innings of duty.

The MoonDogs offense struggled for eight innings, before reviving in the bottom of the ninth and scoring four of their five runs in the innings. Leading the MoonDogs offensively Sunday night was Mike Rivera (Fresno Pacific) was 3-for-4 from the plate with a double and two RBIs, Zak Wasserman (Louisville) who was 2-for-3 for the evening with a run scored and Steve Nyisztor (Rutgers) who was 1-for-4 on the night with a home run and an RBI.

The MoonDogs will now prepare for a playoff showdown with the Alexandria Beetles on Monday night at 7:05 at Franklin Rogers Park. The two teams will play a three-game series, with game one in Mankato, and game two will be in Alexandria along with game three, if necessary. Northwoods League pitcher of the year Blake Schwartz (Minnesota St.-Mankato) gets the nod and will start for the MoonDogs in game one.

Tickets for the playoffs are still available and are on sale at the MoonDogs ticket office located at 1221 Caledonia Street. For more information visit our website at www.mankatomoondogs.com or call the MoonDogs office at 507-625-7047.