St. Cloud, MN – The Mankato MoonDogs took to the diamond on Saturday evening looking to pull even with the St. Cloud Rox in the second half standings. Mankato got out to an early lead, and never looked back in a 4-1 victory at Joe Faber Field.
Bryce Adams (LSU) came to the plate with David Metzgar (CSU Bakersfield) in the first inning. Both would score as Adams smacked a home run over the left field wall to give Mankato an early 2-0 lead. Adams finished the night 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Brett Newberg (Austin Peay) made his first start for the MoonDogs, throwing 6.0 innings of shutout baseball. Newberg scattered six hits with three walks without a strikeout. The MoonDogs’ lefty picked up the win for Mankato, producing many ground and fly ball outs in his impressive outing.
Mankato added a third run in the second inning, with Alvaro Rubalcaba (Cal State Northridge) ripping a double that scored Alex Tucker (Nicholls). The fourth and final run for the visitors crossed in the sixth, an RBI single by Gavin Wehby (Nicholls) brought home Bryce Adams, and put the MoonDogs up 4-0.
The lone St. Cloud run crossed in the seventh inning. Brian Gadsby (UCLA) hit leadoff man Drew Freedman, who would come home during Ricky Ramirez’s at bat. Ramirez crushed the first of his two doubles, part of a 3-for-5 day, but would be put out at third for the final out of the seventh.
Ramirez’s two hits against Gadsby were the only two hits the right-hander allowed. Gadsby earned the save for Mankato, going 3.0 innings with two hits, a walk, and three hit by pitches. Gadsby also notched one strikeout in the game.
The MoonDogs return to action on Sunday evening, with a 5:05 PM first pitch against the St. Cloud Rox to wrap up their season series. Winner will be the sole owner of first place in the North Divison’s race for the second half championship. Catch all of the action on The Fan Mankato and www.mankatomoondogs.com.
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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.
