Mankato, Minn. – The MoonDogs fell to the Border Cats tonight at Franklin Rogers Park after a couple of big offensive innings from the Thunder Bay lineup. The MoonDogs put together a rally of their own when Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) walked up to the plate in the seventh inning with two runners on base, and hit his 11th home run of the season and third home run of the two-game series.

Kyle Czaplak (Cal State Monterery Bay) scored the first run for the Border Cats as he led off the first inning with a walk and scored off of a Brady Gulakowski (North Carolina State) single to right field. Thunder Bay’s big inning came in the top of the fourth when they scored five runs. First baseman, Daniel DeSimone (Cowely College), hit a double to right field and drove in two runs. The next batter, Czaplak hit a two-run home run to put the Border Cats up 6-0.

Thunder Bay continued to add insurance runs throughout the game, scoring two runs in the fifth inning, one run in the seventh inning, and two more runs in the ninth. Mankato threatened in the bottom of the ninth after loading the bases, but fail to capitalized as Zac Wiley (Bellarmine) struck out for the final out of the game.

Kyle MacDonald now has sole possession of the Northwoods League home run total with 11 home runs and he’s also the leader in RBIs with 47.

The MoonDogs will hit the road and play a two game series in Eau Claire. Game one tomorrow is schedule at 6:35 pm with Geremy Guerrero (Indiana State) expected to take the mound for the MoonDogs.

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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.