By Connor Wachtel
Mankato, Minn. – The Mankato MoonDogs put an end to their losing streak on Saturday evening with an 8-4 win over the Waterloo Bucks at The Frank. Late offense was the difference for the Dogs as they scored all eight runs unanswered in the final four frames.
BOX SCORE: Mankato 8, Waterloo 4
The Bucks got out in front first, scoring one in the first inning. It happened after an error allowed the run to come in to score. It gave Waterloo an early 1-0 advantage.
R.J. Teijeiro (UCLA) made his presence felt in his return Mankato after being on the Dogs roster in 2018. He tripled to clear the bases for two runs in the fourth. It added to a 3-0 Waterloo lead after four.
The Bucks plated another in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
It took until the sixth, but then the MoonDogs bats flourished the rest of the way. Mankato got it started by decreasing the deficit to just one after the sixth. A pass ball, a sacrifice fly off James Gargano’s (Butler) bat and a wild pitch each scored one to make it 4-3.
In the seventh Mankato worked to plate three more and take the lead. Adan Fernandez (FIU) had the big hit with a double to left that hit off the top of the wall and scored Cuba Bess (Grand Canyon) and Mikey Perez (UCLA). Dayton Dooney (Arizona) finished off the scoring in the inning, giving the Dogs the 6-4 lead after he singled drive in Josh Elvir (Angelo State).
Mankato closed out the scoring in the eighth with another double from Fernandez to score Bess and an infield putout against Elvir that scored Perez. The game wrapped up 8-4 after Waterloo had no answer for the Dogs eight consecutive runs.
Player Notables:
Player of the Game went to Dooney after he had a night going 3-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
Earning the win in his final appearance of the season was Jack Schneider (Grand Canyon). The southpaw put up seven innings of work allowing five hits and four runs. Schneider also walked a pair and struck out five. Then, in relief, Fabian Muniz (Angelo State) made his debut for the Dogs. He earned the save for his ability to shut down the Bucks in the final two innings. He surrendered one hit and also struck out one to close out the game.
The loss went to Noah Colon (UC – San Diego) after he allowed six runs on four hits in 1.1 innings of relief work. Colon also walked two along with striking out one.
Due up for the Dogs:
Tomorrow the Mankato MoonDogs (21-26) take on the Waterloo Bucks (24-23) in the last game before the all-star break. First pitch from the MoonDogs starter, Carter Rustad (San Diego) will be delivered at 3:05 p.m. at Franklin Rogers Park in Mankato, Minn.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, 225 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), World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the MoonDogs as your favorite team.
