The Mankato MoonDogs were down, but they weren’t beaten after a tough loss in Eau Claire. Mankato traveled to Waterloo and got right back on track with a come from behind 7-2 victory over the second place Bucks at Riverfront Stadium.

The MoonDogs struck first on a Derek Umphres RBI single, but the Bucks responded with two of their own to take a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning.

Mankato’s offense awoke, scoring six runs in the top of the eighth inning. Tanner Rockwell’s three-run blast way over the left field wall gave the MoonDogs the 4-2 lead, but the offense wasn’t done yet. Brett Synek came up and roped a sacrifice fly and Peter Maris put the game out of reach with a two-run single to give the MoonDogs a 7-2 lead and eventually the win.

The Bucks threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but a strong effort from Jake Westerhouse shut the door on the Waterloo comeback hopes.

Trey Cobb was terrific, earning the no-decision and allowed just one unearned run over five strong innings. The right-hander struck out three and allowed just four hits. Alex Hackerott was solid in relief, earning the victory with 3.1 innings, allowing just one run. Westerhouse closed the door in the ninth, striking out two.

J.D. Moore suffered the loss for the Bucks, allowing five runs on three hits and didn’t record an out before being removed from the game.

With the win, the MoonDogs improved to 4-1 in the second half while the Bucks fell to 3-3. The teams conclude a two-game set at Riverfront Stadium on Monday evening at 6:35 p.m.