By Connor Wachtel
Bismarck, N.D. – The Mankato MoonDogs completed the sweep of the Bismarck Larks on Saturday night. It was an explosive 9-5 victory driven by power with four home runs.
BOX SCORE: Mankato 9, Bismarck 5
The Larks got their bats going first with a three-run homer from Brody Tanksley (Indiana University – Southeast) in the second. The lone round tripper for Bismarck gave them an early 3-0 advantage.
Mankato decided to leave the yard in response in the third. It was Cuba Bess (Grand Canyon) recording his first home run of the season, also scoring on the homer was James Gargano (Butler).
From there on out it was all MoonDogs with power bats. It took until the sixth but Josh Elvir (Angelo State) got in on the action hitting his 4th home run of the season, it was another two-run shot that gave the Dogs a 4-3 lead. A double from Sean Ross (Pensacola) later in the inning scored Tanner Craig (Evansville) and after a Larks fielding error during the fact, Mikey Perez (UCLA) also came around to score an unearned run. The Dogs had a 6-3 lead after the sixth in Bismarck, N.D.
Elvir did it again in the seventh, another two-run home run made it 8-3 MoonDogs. Bess notched the other tally.
In the top of the ninth, Jake Moberg (UCLA) went deep for his first of the season and added insurance to the lead. The MoonDogs closed it out in the ninth for a 9-5 victory and four-game sweep of the Bismarck Larks on the road.
Player Notables:
Earning the win was the Dogs starting southpaw Jack Schneider (Grand Canyon) after he threw seven complete innings. Schneider surrendered six hits, one of which was a three-run home run in the third which ended up being the only runs he allowed on Saturday, He also walked one and struck out four others. Thomas Bruss (Augustana) finished things up in the ninth with a strikeout in a scoreless inning.
The loss was handed to Bismarck’s starter, Corey Treyes (Coppin State), after he pitched 5.2 innings and surrendered six runs (five earned) on six hits. He walked and struck out a pair.
Due up for the Dogs:
Tomorrow the Mankato MoonDogs (19-21) travel to take on the Willmar Stingers (22-17) and begin a home and home series. The probable pitcher for the MoonDogs is Carter Rustad (San Diego). First pitch will be delivered at 5:05 p.m. at Bill Taunton Stadium in Willmar, Minn.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 25-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, 225 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), World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). 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 and set the MoonDogs as your favorite team.