DULUTH-Minn. Andy Fisher (Illinois) threw eight innings of shutout baseball and the MoonDogs defeated the Duluth Huskies 6-0 Sunday afternoon, splitting the two game series and finishing up the road trip 2-2. Fisher allowed 6 hits and walked three while collecting five strikeouts, throwing 106 pitches. He pitched eight complete innings, which tied his season long. At the plate, the MoonDogs scored three in the third inning and never looked back, adding single runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to bring their game total to six. Daniel Amaral (UCLA) reached base all six times, going 2-2 with three walks, a double, a single, and a fielder's choice. Amaral is hitting .333 in 23 games since joining the MoonDogs.
With the victory, the MoonDogs improved to 11-5 in the second half north division standings (31-21 overall) and hold onto first place. The Duluth Huskies fall to 9-6 (24-25 overall). Huskies starting pitcher Garrett Brown (4-4) took the loss while Andy Fisher (4-0) grabbed the win for Mankato. The scoring in the third inning started on back to back singles by Ethan Valdez (Nicholls St.) and Daniel Amaral (UCLA). After Drew Fearing (NDSU) flew out to right field, Kyle Cuellar (UCLA) drove in a run with a double, putting runners on the corners. Then Zac Wiley (Bellarmine) followed with an RBI single and Logan Busch (NDSU) hit a sacrifice fly to score Cuellar from third.
In the seventh, the MoonDogs took a 4-0 lead when Wiley led off with a walk and scored on an Ethan Valdez walk with the bases loaded. Then in the eighth, Fearing walked and scored on a wild pitch from Jacob Trujillo. The last run for the MoonDogs came in the top of the ninth, with Ryan Kreidler coming in to score to make it 6-0. The MoonDogs stranded 12 base runners. Mankato will play again Monday night against the Eau Claire Express back at Franklin Rogers Park. First pitch is at 7:05pm.
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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.
