DULUTH-Minn. The Mankato MoonDogs fell to the Duluth Huskies 4-3 on back to back bases loaded walks in the ninth inning issued to Isaac Collins and Chase Strumpf at Wade Stadium Saturday night. Victor Santana got the win for Duluth as the final relief pitcher in the game. Naithan Dewsnap took the loss for Mankato, pitching the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Huskies grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Luke Roskam drew a one out walk and eventually scored on a single by Alec Abercrombie. The MoonDogs took their first lead of the game in the top of the sixth. Jake Shepski was hit by a pitch to lead off and Kyle Cuellar walked. A Zac Wiley base hit loaded the bases and after Logan Bush and Ethan Valdez both hit fly outs, Ryan Kreider and Jake Ortega both earned walks to bring the score to 2-1.
The teams exchanged runs in the seventh inning and in the ninth, the Huskies loaded the bases and Naithan Dewsnap walked Collins and Strumpf in back to back at bats to end the game.
The MoonDogs fall to 10-5 in the second half north division standings while the Duluth Huskies will improve to 9-5, a half game behind Mankato for first place. The two teams will play the second game of their two game series tomorrow afternoon at 3:05pm and will be broadcasted on AM1230 The Fan Mankato.
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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.