The Mankato MoonDogs defeated the Rochester Honkers Thursday night 11-6 to move into a tie for first place.
Mankato would start their scoring early after Andrew Morales (Angelo State) drove in Nick Novak (Angelo State) with a two run homerun to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead.
After getting the leadoff man aboard in the second in the form of Josh Elvir (Houston), new MoonDog acquisition Max Wright (Indiana State) drove in the left fielder with an RBI double. Two batters later, Wright scored on an RBI single to give the MoonDogs a 4-0 lead.
The power surge continued for Mankato, as Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) clubbed his third homerun of the year, giving the Dogs a 5-2 lead at the time.
The final homerun of the game came from CJ Huntley (Indiana State), who shot a line drive over the left field wall in the seventh. The MoonDogs totaled eleven runs in total, their second highest for a game this season.
The only scare for the Dogs came late in the game. With Mankato leading 11-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, three straight runs scored before an out was recorded. The lead shrunk to 11-6 with the bases loaded and two outs, but Jack Zigan (Cal Poly) finished the last batter with a fly out.
In his first start as a MoonDog this year, Brett Newburg (Austin Peay) allowed two runs (one earned) in six innings, picking up the win. Geremy Guerrero (Indiana State) pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
The MoonDogs will face off against the Thunder Bay Border Cats at the Frank Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 Central.
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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.