{"id":17420,"date":"2026-06-29T22:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T03:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/mankato-moondogs\/?p=17420"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T03:29:16","slug":"moondogs-close-out-first-half-of-season-with-win-over-willmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northwoodsleague.com\/mankato-moondogs\/2026\/06\/29\/moondogs-close-out-first-half-of-season-with-win-over-willmar\/","title":{"rendered":"MoonDogs close out First Half of Season with win over Willmar"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><strong>MANKATO, MINN.<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Mankato MoonDogs closed out their two-game series against the Willmar Stingers with a 14-6 victory Monday night at ISG Field.<\/div>\n<p>After a scoreless first inning, Mankato erupted in the second to take control of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Charlie Buckles (Florida State University) opened the scoring with an RBI single. The MoonDogs added two more runs on a bases-loaded walk and consecutive hit-by-pitches before Andrew Purdy (University of Alabama) drove in two with a single. Liam Ebbs (Wofford College) followed with a two-run RBI single, capping an eight-run inning and giving Mankato an 8-0 lead.<\/p>\n<p>The MoonDogs added another run in the third on a Willmar error to extend the advantage to 9-0. Both teams were held scoreless in the fourth and fifth innings.<\/p>\n<p>The Stingers broke through in the sixth with two runs, cutting the deficit to 9-2.<\/p>\n<p>Mankato answered with another big inning in the seventh. Buckles scored on a wild pitch before Evan Saunders (Oklahoma State University) delivered an RBI double. An additional error on the play allowed three runs to score. Ebbs added his second RBI of the night to push the MoonDogs&#8217; lead to 14-2.<\/p>\n<p>Willmar mounted a four-run rally in the eighth, but the comeback fell short as Mankato secured the 14-6 win.<\/p>\n<p>The MoonDogs will travel to Minot, North Dakota, on Tuesday to open a series against the Hot Tots. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\">###<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Northwoods League is the proven leader in developing elite college baseball players. Having completed its\u2019 32nd season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in history with 26 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, over 410 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TOR), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford and World Series Champion Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019\/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, MLB All-Star, MLB Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (NYM).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANKATO, MINN.\u00a0\u2013 The Mankato MoonDogs closed out their two-game series against the Willmar Stingers with a 14-6 victory Monday night  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.5 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - 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