Mankato, Minn. – The MoonDogs faced the first half division champions, the Bismarck Larks, for the first series of the second half of the season and came away with a two game sweep. Player of the game, Josh Ramirez (Washburn) was on the mound tonight for Mankato and pitched seven shutout innings. Ramirez struck out six batters, walked three, and surrendered three hits.
Mankato’s lineup was off to an early start scoring all five runs in the first two innings of the ballgame. In the first inning, Garrett Mitchell (UCLA) coaxed a walk with the bases loaded to score the second run of the ball game. Josh Elvir (Houston) later in the inning would single to right-center field to drive in two runs to put the Dogs up 4-0.
The Dogs drove in one more run in the bottom of the second inning off of a Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) single up the middle that scored CJ Huntley (Indiana State) from second base.
Brandon Pfaadt (Bellarmine) entered the game in the eighth inning and pitched the final two innings and only allowed one batter to reach base. Pfaadt struck out the side to end the game in the ninth inning and secured the victory.
The MoonDogs will play the Willmar Stingers tomorrow night at The Frank. First pitch is scheduled at 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.