The Mankato MoonDogs had not lost a game in which Kolby Kiser (Southwest Minnesota State)
had pitched in this season, as he took the ball on Thursday night.
That trend continued.
The right-hander from Sebeka, Minnesota twirled seven brilliant innings on Thursday night
against the Minot Hot Tots at Corbett Field, spearheading an offense that helped break the game
open in the eighth inning, as the MoonDogs took down the Hot Tots 8-2.
It wasn’t only Kiser though, as the MoonDogs never trailed in the contest and the offense was
able to break the game open late in route to the victory.
Ryan Nicholson (Cincinnati) got Mankato moving in the first, as he hit a long nou-doubt home
run to right field that exited Corbett Field entirely. His first of the year made it 1-0 Mankato.
After Minot evened the game at one in the second, the MoonDogs would strike again in the
fourth inning, as Kai Roberts (Utah) continued his hot streak, hammering a solo home run to
straight away center field to give the MoonDogs the lead once again.
After Minot scored in the fifth inning to tie the game on a controversial play at the plate,
Mankato would answer. With two on and one out, Max Williams (Florida State) would rip a
single into right field to plate Roberts and give Mankato a 3-2 lead.
Kiser continued to deal, as he worked his longest outing of the season, pitching seven innings
while allowing just six hits and two runs. He also walked two, and struck out three.
The offense of the black and orange woke up in the eighth inning, as they took advantage of a
second trip to the bullpen by Minot. Kip Fougerousse (Evansville) led off the inning with a
double, followed by a walk by Roberts, and then Nicholson reaching on fielder’s interference.
With the bases loaded and none out, Williams ripped his second RBI single in as many tries,
plating Fougerousse, and making the score 4-2.
Minot went back to the bullpen, and with Brody Harding (Illinois) at the plate, Roberts would
score on a wild pitch. Harding then brought in Nicholson on a fielder’s choice to make it a 6-2
game. Then, Hunter Faildo (Hawai’i) put an exclamation point on the game, drilling the third
Mankato home run of the night to deep left-center field, and his first of the season made it 8-2
MoonDogs.
Breck Bradshaw (Tarleton State) came on to close out the final two innings, and did a nice job,
allowing no hits and striking out two over the final two frames to wrap up an 8-2 Mankato
victory.
With the win, the MoonDogs improved to 18-13 on their season while Minot dropped to 6-22,
and split the series with the Hot Tots. The MoonDogs are back at home tomorrow night as they
take on the Rochester Honkers, starting at 6:35 p.m.
The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Now in its’ 30th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 24 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, over 325 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (NYM), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2021 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and 2019 Second Team All-MLB shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com and on ESPN+. For more information, visit www.mankatomoondogs.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rockers as your favorite team.
