Mankato, Minnesota—The Mankato MoonDogs used their power, hitting five homeruns, to defeat the Eau Claire Express 10-9 in their final game before the All-Star break.
The Express shot out to a six run lead early, scoring one in the first and five more in the second, chasing MoonDogs’ starter Jeremy Quinlan after just 1.1 innings.
The ‘Dogs quickly barked back, plating six of their own in the second inning, including back-to-back-to-back home runs to lead off the inning by Jake Shepski, Chase Hamilton and Marcus Pingleton.
The MoonDogs sent ten men to the plate in the second and Jake Shepski would pick up two base knocks that inning, the second an RBI single to complete the comeback for Mankato.
Hamilton would hit a second home run later in the game, this one a two-run shot,that would put the ‘Dogs up by a score of 9-7 in the sixth, only to have Eau Claire tie it up again the next half inning by scoring two of their own.
The two homeruns by Hamilton give him three over the last two games, and put him at seven on the season for Mankato.
In a game that saw four lead changes and three ties, an Alex Tucker homerun, his first of the season and fifth of the night for Mankato, would give the MoonDogs their final lead of the game in the seventh.
Brian Gadsby gave the MoonDogs two scoreless innings of relief, allowing just three hits while striking one out to earn the victory for Mankato, putting him at 3-0 on the year..
Keven Yarabinec would enter the ninth and shut it down for Mankato, picking up his second save of the season, despite allowing the potentially game-tying run to reach third in the inning.
The MoonDogs will now head into the All-Star break one game behind the Willmar Stingers in the second half standings, where they will be represented by Shepski, Jordan Kozicky and Ricky Digrugilliers
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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, visitwww.mankatomoondogs.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store and set the MoonDogs as your favorite team.
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 22-year-old summer collegiate 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 former 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 website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store.