BISMARCK- N.D. Tyler Steele pitched seven complete innings and allowed just 2 hits and the Bismarck Larks went on to defeat the Mankato MoonDogs in the first ever matchup between the two teams 2-1 on Wednesday night at Municipal Stadium. It was a game that had the look of a pitcher's duel from the start as neither team could put up a run on each other's starting pitcher through the first four innings. In the fifth, the Larks struck first on a single from Ryan Anderson after Scooter Bynum got on with a single and stole a base.
It remained 1-0 until Nick Vaage led off with an eighth inning walk and eventually scored on a Jake Shepski fielders' choice, with Shepski beating out a double play throw over to first. The Larks were able to score one more time in the bottom of the ninth in walk-off fashion. Scooter Bynum led off with a single, ending Matt Young's outing in relief of starter Collin Floyd. Joey
Gerber came in and struck out Mitch Gallager before hitting Austin Paschke in the left knee with a fastball. Ryan Anderson grounded out to put runners on second and third with two out and the MoonDogs elected to intentionally walk Cooper Coldiron to load the bases. The winning run came in on a hit by pitch with Newt Johnson at the plate. Scooter Bynum then advanced home to end the game.
Matt Young took the loss in relief for the MoonDogs, responsible for Bynum who scored the winning run. Jeff Lindren grabbbed the win for the Larks, going 2.0 innings and giving up 1 earned run on 2 hits, walking 2 and striking out 1. The MoonDogs will be back in action tomorrow night against the Larks at 7:05 in Bismarck before returning home for the second set of two of games against the same team.
##
The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). 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 or on Google Play and set the MoonDogs as your favorite team.
###
The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC).
###