Mankato, Minn. – In danger of getting swept by St. Cloud, the MoonDogs turned to Danny Miller and Chris Murrill to bail the squad out. Miller belted a two-run game tying double in the eighth and made a game saving diving catch in the ninth. Murrill followed by belting a walk-off single in the ninth as the MoonDogs defeated the St. Cloud River Bats 5-4 Thursday evening at Franklin Rogers Park.
Murrill, who was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 35th round earlier in the day, showed he was worthy of the pick, going 2-5 with a home run and two RBI to complement the game-winner.
The MoonDogs (9-5) came to life in the eighth, rallying against the River Bat bullpen. After Larson (Minnesota) and Lance Ray (Western Nevada) singled, Ryan Durant (Iowa) came through with an RBI single off Drew Palen (Penn State) to cut the deficit to two. Eric Marzec (Youngstown State) was then brought in to face Miller as he greeted Marzec with an opposite field double to tie the game up.
Miller then made use of his glove in right in the ninth, as he made the play of the night. With Adam Weisenberger (Miami-Ohio) on second and two outs, Zac Richard (Xavier) blooped an Adam Jung (Central Arizona) offering to right. Miller fully extended to make the catch for the third out of the inning.
Nick Judkins (Iowa Central) started the ninth inning rally with a leadoff walk, and after Troy Larson (Minnesota) bunted him to second, Murrill poked a slicing line drive to left center that got past a diving Brian Humphries (Pepperdine), allowing Judkins to trot home with the winning run.
In a game that started as a pitchers’ duel early, Tim Griffin (Rollins) and Dan Straily (Marshall) stole the show. Griffin had allowed zero runs with eight strikeouts and Straily had allowed a single run on just two hits through six innings.
Griffin then seemed to hit a wall in the seventh as the inning started with a single, a walk and an error on a sacrifice bunt to plate the tying run for St. Cloud (5-9). Griffin nearly worked out of the jam, but allowed a two-out, two-run single to Jonathan Roof (Michigan State) to put the Bats up 3-1. The Bats would make it 4-1 on a MoonDog throwing error, before the big rally.
Along with Miller and Murrill, Larson added two hits for the MoonDogs, who retained sole possession of first place in the North Division with the victory. Roof had two hits and two RBI to pace the River Bats, while Hugo Hernandez (UC-Irvine) also had a pair of hits.
Jung picked up the win for the MoonDogs, moving his record to 2-0. Marzec took the loss, falling to 0-1.
Tomorrow the River Bats will be in Brainerd to face the Lunkers, while the MoonDogs will start up a series with the Waterloo Bucks. Both games will start at 7:05 p.m, as tommorrow’s game at the Frank will be MAYBA/MAGFA night. All kids wearing their MAYBA or MAGFA jerseys get in free.
