Mankato, Minn. – The MoonDogs beat the La Crosse Loggers after a two-run ninth inning rally, extending their winning streak to six games, and cutting their deficit in the division to one game behind the Duluth Huskies.
Down 2-1 in the ninth, Loggers pitcher, Jon Meyering, walked Garrett Mitchell to put the tying run on base. Kyle MacDonald then singled to right field and advanced Mitchell to third base. CJ Huntley would tie the game with a sacrifice fly to center field, and MacDonald advanced to second base on the throw.
MoonDogs manager, Ryan Kragh, then made the decision to bring Josh Elvir into the game as a pinch runner for MacDonald at second base. Elvir, representing the winning run, advanced to third on a wild pitch. RJ Teijeiro drew a walk on a full count to make it runners on first and third with only one out. Zac Wiley hit a ground ball to La Crosse shortstop, Braiden Ward, and threw out Elvir at home for the second out.
Jake Shepski entered the game as a pinch hitter for Evan Klugerman. The Loggers intentionally walked Shepski to load the bases for Kenton Crews. Crews hit a ground ball deep to shortstop, but reached first base safely after the umpire signaled that the first baseman pulled his foot off the bag. RJ Teijeiro scored the winning run to end the game with a MoonDogs victory.
La Crosse scored first in this game when center fielder, Braiden Ward (Washington), hit a solo home run to right field. Bryce Blaum singled in the next at bat, and came around to score off a Harrison Freed double to left-center field.
Kenton Crews led off the sixth inning with a double down the right field line. Crews came around to score the MoonDogs’ first run off a successful drag bunt to the third base side from Garrett Mitchell (UCLA).
Jimmy Larson came in to relieve Jarod Wright in the seventh inning, and pitched three scoreless innings for the MoonDogs. Wright pitched six innings tonight for Mankato, and surrendered only two runs, with five hits, and struck out eight batters.
The MoonDogs will stay in Mankato for the next couple days, as Willmar will come to town for a two-game series. Nathan Hickey is slated to take the mound against the MoonDogs tomorrow, and first pitch will be 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.
