MoonDogs Defeat Rox 7-2

Adam Lukas (Evansville) threw six shutout innings in his MoonDogs debut, allowing five hits while striking out eight. Returning pitcher Ricky Digrugilliers (Minnesota State) chipped in with a scoreless inning of his own, working around a lead off double.

While the pitching was dominant, the hitting held up its end of the bargain. The MoonDogs scored their first two runs of the game in the sixth inning off a Josh Elvir (Houston) base knock, scoring two with one swing of the bat.

As Mankato held onto a two run lead heading into the eighth, the offense of the Dogs would put field manager Ryan Kragh’s mind at ease with a sterling showing at the dish. Ten batters would come to the dish in the five run inning, where the Rox committed two errors while allowing three hits. The innings saw three different pitchers try to silence the bats of the Dogs, but were unable to do so before the damage was done. Roger Danison (Xavier) drove in a run drawing a bases loaded walk.

Despite the loss, the torrid stretch continued for catcher Ricardo Sanchez (Arkansas Pine Bluff). Sanchez tripled and had two hits on the day, raising his batting average to .313 for the young season.

The MoonDogs will continue their five game road trip Saturday, as they travel north of the border to take on the Thunder Bay Border Cats. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 CST, with starting pitchers to be announced within the coming hours.

The Mankato MoonDogs are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods 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 190 former 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) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). 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 Bullfrogs as your favorite team.