Just when it looked the Mankato MoonDogs were about to waste a solid outing by starter Tyler Lesley, some ninth inning heroics instead gave the team an exciting walk-off win, as they defeated the Bismarck Larks for the second straight night, 4-3.
The bats for the MoonDogs started slow, getting blanked by Larks starter Frank Greco for the first four innings. Meanwhile the Larks managed to push an unearned run across in the third inning on an error by first baseman, Toby Hanson. They added another in the fourth with the help of an RBI double by Brandon Lankford to make the score 2-0.
The MoonDogs finally got on the board in the fifth inning, thanks to Daniel Amaral’s triple to the right field corner, scoring Alvaro Rubalcaba. The two teams continued to mount rallies over the next two innings, only to come up empty each time.
Lesley finished his night with seven innings pitched, giving up one earned run, striking out four, and walking two. But the night was far from over. After reliever Addison Reed surrendered a solo shot to Scooter Bynum to lead off the top of the eighth inning, the MoonDogs got a run of their own in the bottom half. Ryan Kreidler hit a long fly ball to left field that may have left the park if left fielder Wyatt Ulrich hadn’t deflected it back in. Kreidler settled for a double, and later scored on a double by Kenton Crews to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Joey Gerber pitched a hitless ninth for the MoonDogs, and the team entered the bottom half of the inning needing at least one run to survive. Kyle Cuellar gave it to them immediately, hitting a monster solo home run to right field. The MoonDogs then loaded the bases for CJ Schaeffer, who ended the game, dropping a bloop single into short right field, scoring Hanson.
The top of the batting order, Amaral, Cueller, and Hanson all had two hits apiece for the MoonDogs, who travel to Rochester for one game on the 3rd. The team then comes back to Mankato for a four game homestand, beginning on July 4th.
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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.
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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).
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 or on Google Play.
