Thunder Bay, Ont. – The Mankato MoonDogs (2-3) lost for the third time this season Saturday, falling to the Thunder Bay Border Cats (2-3) by a score of 5-2.
The Dogs jumped out to an early lead in the top of the third inning after Kenton Crews (Evansville) drove in Nick Novak (Angelo State) to tally the first Mankato run of the game. The Border Cats would strike back with one in the bottom of the third after an RBI groundout off the bat of Brady Gulakowski (North Carolina State).
Mankato scored one more run in the fourth off the bat of a Ben Komonosky (Northern Iowa Community College) to take a 2-1 lead that would evaporate within two innings. Thunder Bay would score three runs in the fifth inning after an error by the MoonDogs plated a run that kept the inning alive for the Cats. An RBI triple from Nick Conti (Tampa) and an RBI single from Trent Athmann (Luther College) would stake the Border Cats to a 4-2 lead.
Thunder Bay would add an insurance run in the sixth, extending their lead to 5-2 off a double by Evan Russell (Tennessee).
MoonDogs starter Jacob Nagel (Bellarmine) allowed just one earned run in four and two thirds innings, but walked six batters, not factoring into the decision. Jack Zigan (Cal Poly) pitched for the first time this season out of the bullpen, allowing three runs (one earned) in three and one thirds innings.
The MoonDogs and Border Cats will play once more Sunday before the MoonDogs make the trip back to Mankato for a night. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 Eastern Daylight Time/12:35 Central Daylight Time.
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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 https://northwoodsleague.com/mankato-moondogs/ 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.
