It had been six days since the Mankato MoonDogs had played in their home ballpark, and they came back to Franklin Rogers Park looking to extend their four-game winning streak. They left nothing up to chance, hammering the Waterloo Bucks 10-4.
The first third of the game belonged to the pitchers. MoonDogs starter Tyler Lesley and his counterpart Ryan Garcia kept the game scoreless for the first three innings, as both offenses struggled to put together any rallies.
The scoring began in the fourth inning, with the Bucks striking first. Jake Viaene sent a Lesley pitch over the leftfield wall, giving his team a 2-0 lead. But in the bottom half, Logan Busch tied the game with a two-run shot of his own, making the score 2-2 after four innings.
But just as the fans were getting used to a tied game, the Bucks untied it right away with a leadoff home run by Keaton Presley. That would be the final run the Bucks would score off Lesley, who went seven innings, striking out seven and walking two on five hits.
Lesley exited the game with a 3-2 deficit, but his offense had no intention of wasting a solid outing by their pitcher. The MoonDogs used doubles by Ryan Kreidler, Daniel Amaral, and Kyle Cuellar, as well as four walks and five wild pitches to score six runs and give themselves a 8-3 lead.
The MoonDogs weren’t quite done scoring, though. An Amaral groundout in the eighth inning turned into two more runs as the Bucks committed another error, putting themselves down 10-3.
Austin Hansen pitched the final two innings for the MoonDogs, giving up just one run and securing a 10-4 win for his team. Amaral, Cuellar, and Busch each drove in two runs, with Cuellar also contributing three hits. The victory gives the MoonDogs a five-game winning streak and improves their record to 16-7 in the second half. They will play the Bucks again tomorrow night at 7:05.
The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, more than 170 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. 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 MoonDogs as your favorite team.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 23-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, more than 180 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). 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.