MANKATO, Minn.- The Mankato MoonDogs had their first walk off win of the season Thursday night v. the Rochester Honkers in the eleventh inning for a 6-5 victory.
The night was filled with a number of different events for it was Twins night at the Frank with Terry Steinbach visiting as a featured guest who threw out the first pitch, signed autographs, and enjoyed the hard fought battle between the MoonDogs and the Honkers.
The players knew they had to bring their "A" game to show off their skills in front of the former twin.
It was a back and forth match for most of the game and the fans were with their MoonDog team one hundred percent of the way. When the ‘Dogs were down 4-5 going into the ninth, everyone in the park knew that their favorite team would somehow pull out a victory.
Speedster Cody Ferrell (Oklahoma City) was on first and took off to steal second base. The throw by the Honkers catcher was wild and sailed out to center field. The determination in Ferrell’s body language was fierce as he took off to third. Ferrell got to third so quickly that just a little bobble from the center fielder was enough for him to round and take off home for the tie. As Ferrell rounded third he tripped up just enough to make everyone in the stands bite their finger nails. The rabbit was just fast enough to make it all the way home to tie up the game and send it in to extra innings.
The tenth inning was scoreless for both teams, and ultimately lead to a eleventh inning battle.
Ferrell lead off the eleventh with a walk and continued to steal bases. After stealing second, he took off for third on a Honkers pass ball. With a man on third, Chris Munoz (Oklahoma City) came up to the plate. Munoz currently leads the team in runs batted in, therefore the Dogs’ couldn’t have been in a better situation. Munoz fouled off four separate pitches during the at bat, until he got the one he wanted. With an inside fastball, Munoz turned on it hard to send it to deep right-center field ending the game in a 6-5 MoonDog win.
Seth Webster (Nicholls State) got the start on the bump and went 6.1 innings deep with three strikeouts. Matt Marsh (College of Central Florida) then came in for relief and shut down the Honkers with striking out seven batters in just 2.2 innings. Following Marsh was Derek Howell (Louisiana-Lafayette) relieved and went two innings and struck out three Honker batters.
At the plate Cody Ferrell went 2-for-4 with five stolen bases, and a whopping four total runs for his squad. Craig Massoni (Chabot College) contributed to his team with hitting another monster homerun, and Chris Munoz went 2-for-5 with his game winning base knock to center field.
Five separate MoonDog players had multi-hit games Thursday, and battled till the very end to pull out a tight victory that kept all the fans on their toes.
The MoonDogs will be back at the Frank Friday night to take on the Willmar Stingers for a 7:05 p.m. start. Friday is Mini Bat giveaway where the first 300 kids will receive a free MoonDog Mini Bat!
Single and season tickets are on sale at the MoonDogs office located at 1221 Caledonia Street. For more information, visit our website www.mankatomoondogs.com or call the MoonDogs office at 507-625-7047.