MANKATO-Minn. Brinn Bell put up three doubles including one that went for a pair of RBI’s in the eighth and the MoonDogs went on to defeat the Duluth Huskies 7-3 Friday night at Franklin Rogers Park in front of a crowd of 1267.
The MoonDogs got on the board first in the second inning when Levi Scott reached base with a one out single to short center field. Ridge was able to get on base on an error charged to Huskies second baseman Eric Peterson. Catcher Craig Lepre walked and Brett Murray picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly in foul territory down the left field line, bringing in Scott from third.
Duluth came right back in the top of the third as Eric Peterson led off with a single off MoonDogs starting pitcher Mitchell Traver. Traver then walked shortstop Trent Chatterton and Austin Darby singled to left field to load the bases. Keach Ballard hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Peterson and Alex Michaels grounded out to second base to bring in the second Huskies run of the inning.
The MoonDogs took the lead back in the bottom of the third beginning with a lead-off triple from Peter Maris who curved the ball sharply down the first base line. Tanner Rockwell drove him in after a lengthy at bat, putting a single into center field. Next to bat in the third was Brinn Bell who hit his first double of the night to deep center field, scoring Rockwell easily from second.
Both teams were locked in a 3-2 battle until the bottom of the eighth when the MoonDogs opened up the scoring with four runs including another double off the bat of Brinn Bell. Mankato ended the night with seven runs off fourteen hits and no errors while Duluth had three runs off six hits and an error.
With the win the MoonDogs improve their record in the north division standings to (15-13) and are now two games behind the Waterloo Bucks for the division lead. Meanwhile, Duluth drops to (14-14) in the north division standings. Mitchell Traver collected his first win of the season in the start for Mankato. Duluth reliever Padraic Getchell took the loss.
The MoonDogs are back on the diamond tomorrow night on the road against the Willmar Stingers at Bill Taunton Stadium with first pitch at 6:05. With eight games remaining in the season, the MoonDogs will need to continue to pick up wins. They will play Willmar four times, Rochester twice, and Eau Claire twice to finish. Fans can listen to the game on AM1230 The Fan Mankato with the voice of the team Josh Horton.
