ROCHESTER- Minn. Nick Belzer (Minnesota State) pitched six and two-thirds innings and allowed 1 earned run on five hits and the MoonDogs went on to defeat the Rochester Honkers 5-4 on Sunday afternoon, ending the regular season on a two game win streak. The MoonDogs led 3-0 in the second inning. Ryan Kreidler singled and Ethan Valdez drove him in from second on a single. Then Jake Ortega hit a double to right center to score two more. The MoonDogs added a run in the fourth after Valdez led off with a double and scored on a single off the bat of Daniel Amaral.
Alvaro Rubalcaba singled and scored in the seventh to make it 5-1, but the Honkers climbed back to make the game close by scoring two in the eighth and one in the ninth on a solo home run by Weston Hatten. Jake Shepski allowed the home run in the ninth but earned the save for Mankato. Manny Armendariz took the loss for Rochester, going the first 6.0 innings and allowing 4 earned runs on 8 hits, walked 1 and struck out 5.
The game took 2 hours and 44 minutes to complete and was played in front of an announced attendance of 899 at Mayo Field. The MoonDogs end their season series against the Honkers 6-2. The MoonDogs 24-12 (44-28 overall) will play in the first round of the playoffs Monday with the time, place, and opponent yet to be determined with Eau Claire and the St. Cloud Rox playing Sunday evening at 5:00pm. If the Eau Claire Express lose, the MoonDogs will host game 1 at Franklin Rogers Park.
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 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
