Duluth, MN — The Mankato MoonDogs were looking for their second sweep of the Duluth Huskies at Wade Stadium this season. Ricky Digrugilliers took the mound and earned the win, while the offense continued to impress. The MoonDogs won by a final tally of 4-1 on Friday evening.

Seven MoonDogs hitters collected base hits on the night, while had multi-hit efforts at the plate versus Ryan Tapani. Mankato got out to their first lead in the second inning when Jake Roberts (Gonzaga) scored on a bloop single into shallow right field off the bat of Alvaro Rubalcaba (Cal State Northridge), putting the MoonDogs up 1-0 in the early-going. 

Ricky Digrugilliers (Western Illinois) held the Huskies to seven hits, striking out four with just two walks. The Huskies lone run came in the sixth inning, when Reid Long hit a sacrifice fly to right field that allowed Logan Browning to score and tie the game. The very next half inning, the MoonDogs score two more runs as Jake Shepski (Notre Dame) brought home Rubalcaba with a sacrifice fly of his own, and Marcus Pingleton (Heartland CC) drove in Drew Fearing (NDSU) to give the MoonDogs a two-run lead. 

Mankato added one more insurance run in the eighth when Jordan Washamn (LA Tech) singled home Bryce Adams (LSU), pushing the margin to 4-1. Brick Paskiewicz came in to the ninth inning and recorded his second save of the season, getting the Huskies 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts.

Mankato heads to Thunder Bay to face the Border Cats on Saturday, looking to improve on a three-game win streak. First pitch is at 5:05 PM central. 

The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 23rd season of summer collegiate baseball, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 150 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.mankatomoondogs.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the MoonDogs as your favorite team.