By Connor Wachtel
Waterloo, Iowa – The Mankato MoonDogs won game one of the weekend series with the Waterloo Bucks on Saturday night at Riverfront Stadium. Excellent starting pitching and one swing of the bat for the Dogs proved to be the difference in a 1-0 nail biter.
BOX SCORE: Mankato 1, Waterloo 0
It took a while, but scoring began in the seventh. It went the Dogs way when Josh Elvir (Angelo State) blasted his 10th home run of the summer. It was a solo shot that put the Dogs up 1-0 after seventh. It ended up being all the Dogs would need as they continued to pitch their way to a 1-0 win in Iowa.
Player Notables:
Elvir was the driving force on the offensive scheme of things for Mankato. He clubbed the game-winning hit out of Riverfront Stadium in the sixth.
The MoonDogs starter, Fabian Muniz (Angelo State) threw a gem on Saturday night to garner his 2nd win of the summer. Muniz hurled eight complete innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed four hits, walked a pair and struck out seven. Jack Pilcher (Butler) was solid in the ninth. He notched the save after he struck out one then rolled up a 6-4-3 double play to secure the win for the Dogs.
The loss was handed to Jack Parkinson (Rutgers). He pitched into the seventh until he was relieved after surrendering the game-winning round tripper to Elvir. He was hit off five times and surrendered the one run. He retired seven MoonDogs hitters on strikes.
Due up for the Dogs:
Tomorrow afternoon the Mankato MoonDogs (31-34) take on the Waterloo Bucks (31-34) again in game two, the series finale. Shane Barringer (Bellarmine) will do the Dogs starting pitching. First pitch is slated for 2:05 p.m. at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa.
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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.