Mankato, Minn. \u2013 Danny Pulfer ended a three-hour, 59-minute marathon with a two-run double in the top of the 14th to give Rochester a 5-3 victory over Mankato Sunday evening at Franklin Rogers Park.<\/p>\n
Pulfer (Oregon), who was brought into the game in the 12th inning as a pinch-runner, laced a line drive down the left field line off Alex Burgos (State College of Florida) that scored both Scott Berke (UNLV) and Aaron Dunsmore (Dayton) for the winning runs.<\/p>\n
The MoonDogs had to come back in the ninth to force the extra baseball, as they posted a run in the bottom of the ninth off Rochester closer Arik Sikula (Marshall). Kyle Knudson (Minnesota) walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a Ryan Durant (Iowa) groundout. Bryan Haar (San Diego) came up big for the second night in a row, drilling a single through the left side to tie the game at three.<\/p>\n
Haar (San Diego) had another great night at the plate, going 3-4 with two RBI to lead the MoonDogs (27-15, 4-5). For Sikula it was his second blown saves in as many nights, as he gave up a three-run lead last night to Thunder Bay.<\/p>\n
The long ball accounted for much of the scoring early on in the game, as Knudson launched a solo shot in the fourth inning to make it a 2-0 MoonDogs lead.<\/p>\n
The Honkers (27-15, 8-2) used two long balls of their own to take the lead. In the seventh, Rance Roundy (UNLV) drilled a solo shot to cut the MoonDog lead to 2-1. Corey Jones (Cal St. Fullerton) then added to his league lead in home runs off Mankato starter Tim Griffin (Rollins), belting a line shot over the right field wall for his 11th to give Honkers the 3-2 lead before the Dogs came back to tie in the ninth. <\/p>\n
Griffin pitched well despite the home runs, striking out four and allowing just five hits in seven and one-thirds innings. <\/p>\n
Burgos suffered the loss despite pitching valiantly in relief. The two runs he allowed in the 14th were unearned, as he pitched four and two-thirds innings, allowing just two hits and striking out six. Scott McGough (Oregon) earned the win, pitching a perfect two innings. All total, both teams used a combined nine pitchers.<\/p>\n
Despite most of the lineup getting six at-bats, Drew Beuerlein (UNLV) was the only Honker with multiple hits, as he went 2-5 with two doubles. <\/p>\n
It was the second time this season the Dogs and Honkers played 14 innings, as the two squads played a suspended, 14-frame affair in the season\u2019s second game. <\/p>\n
The two squads will play a matinee tomorrow at Mayo Field in Rochester. First pitch will be at 1:05 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mankato, Minn. \u2013 Danny Pulfer ended a three-hour, 59-minute marathon with a two-run double in the top of the 14th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n