Mankato, Minn. – The MoonDogs took game three of the four game series from Rochester tonight, 6-4. Mankato slowly chipped away at the Rochester lead tonight as they scored two in the fourth inning, one in the sixth and then three in the eighth inning to give them a two run victory going into the ninth.
The Honkers were off to an early offensive start when they scored four runs in the second inning off of Jarod Wright (Southern Miss.). After the Honkers started the inning with a single and a double, then Alex Baeza (Hawaii) put Rochester on the board with a single up the middle to score Mike Peabody (UC Irvine). Two consecutive RBI singles would follow from Jaylon McLaughlin (Nevada) and Alex McGarry (Oregon State) to put the Honkers up 3-0. The fourth run would score when Austin Bull (Grand Canyon) made a throwing error to first base that allowed McLaughlin to score.
Mankato’s offense fired back in the fourth inning by cutting the lead in half. Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) led off the inning with a hit by pitch and eventually came around to score off of a Max Wright (Indiana State) double down the right field line. Wright would score off an error made by the Rochester first baseman, Baeza.
The MoonDogs took the lead in the bottom of the eighth with a three-run inning. The rally started with a double from Bull that put runners on second and third for Wright. Wright singled up the middle and drove in CJ Huntley (Indiana State) to tie the game. The MoonDogs took the lead when Zac Wiley (Bellarmine) singled to right-center field and drove in Bull.
Zach Hardy (New Mexico State) pitched the ninth inning for Mankato and only allowed a walk before shutting the door.
Max Wright went three for three tonight with a walk and drove in three of the MoonDogs six runs. Antoine Mistico (Scottsdale CC) made his home debut at The Frank tonight and had two base hits, and an intentional walk.
The MoonDogs will play in Rochester tomorrow in the final game of a four-game series. Nathan Hickey is expected to take the mound for Mankato tomorrow, and first pitch will be at 1:05 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.
