The Willmar Stingers defeated the Mankato MoonDogs in 11 innings 6-5 Tuesday evening, in a game where the MoonDogs left six runners on base.
The offense was highlighted by two homeruns for Mankato, with Josh Elvir (Houston) smacking a solo homerun in the top of the third to give the Dogs a 1-0 lead at the time.
The Stingers would answer back with a run of their own in the bottom of the third, evening the score at a run apiece.
After the Dogs plated two runs in the fourth without recording a hit, the Stingers struck back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take their first lead of the game 5-3.
The Dogs would hit another homerun, as the second shot of the day came off the bat of designated hitter Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) in the sixth inning, as MacDonald drove in Blaze Glenn (Youngstown State) to tie the game at 5-5.
What followed from the sixth inning onward was a pitching duel between the relief corps of both teams. Geremy Guerrero (Indiana State) and Jack Zigan (Cal Poly) both ran into trouble but successfully avoided any real damage, keeping the 5-5 score intact heading into extra innings.
The MoonDogs extended the game again in the bottom of the tenth, as Zac Wiley (Bellarmine) made a deep throw to home from right to nab the winning run at the plate with help from catcher Evan Klugerman (Bucknell).
Despite the litany of defensive plays, the MoonDogs would load the bases in the bottom of the 11th, where Matt Malkin (Alabama) would drive in the winning run with an RBI single into center field to lead the Stingers to victory.
The MoonDogs will square off against the Rochester Honkers Wednesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 PM.
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The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit https://northwoodsleague.com/mankato-moondogs/ 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.
