On a night where the threat of rain was worse than the rain itself, the Mankato MoonDogs looked to avenge Monday night’s loss to the Eau Claire Express. But once again, the bats were silent, and the MoonDogs fell once again, 4-1.
It started off a bit rocky for the MoonDogs as the Express loaded the bases in the first inning without an out off starter Caleb Fernolz. Two batters and two groundouts later, the MoonDogs found themselves in a hole, 2-0.
In the bottom of the second inning, the MoonDogs were the ones who loaded the bases. Zac Wiley started the frame with a single and advanced to second base when Logan Busch reached on an error. After a Kenton Crews fielder’s choice, Ethan Valdez walked to fill the bases. With two outs in the inning, Alvaro Rubalcaba earned himself a single when his ground ball deflected off Express pitcher Lane Ramsey’s glove, bringing the score to 2-1.
Fernolz managed to keep the Express scoreless in the second and third innings, but was not as lucky in the fourth, surrendering an unearned run after two MoonDogs errors. Fernolz exited the game after the inning, giving up two earned runs on just one hit.
The Express added another run in the fifth inning, this time off MoonDogs reliever Blake Tritch, stringing together two hits and a stolen base to increase their lead to 4-1. Tritch combined with fellow relievers Jake Shepski and Naithen Dewsnap to blank the Express the rest of the way, but the MoonDogs offense was unable to capitalize, with only one hit in the final four innings.
The MoonDogs had five hits on the night, all singles. Rubalcaba had the lone RBI for his team, who dropped to 11-7 in the second half. The MoonDogs have the day off on Wednesday, then will travel to Duluth on Thursday to take on the Huskies.
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 180 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 website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
