A page was turned in the Northwoods League season on Tuesday as the league’s 28 teams got underway with the second half of the season. Coming off a 13-23 first half, the Minot Hot Tots looked refreshed with plenty of new roster additions on Tuesday night, fueling an 11-6 win over the Mankato MoonDogs.

The Hot Tots were scorching at the plate against Mankato. In the first inning, Tyler Arnold crushed a two-run home run to start the scoring. Everyone else in the Minot lineup followed Arnold’s lead. With a barrage of base hits and some well-worked walks, the Tots scored in each of the first four innings to take an 8-2 lead.

It was from the fourth inning on that Mankato would start breaking into the deficit. The MoonDogs would benefit from early-inning walks with timely hitting. Andrew Purdy had a day for Mankato, going 2-3 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored.

The MoonDogs pulled to within three runs by the seventh-inning stretch, trailing 9-6. The Tots received some extra insurance on Arnold’s second home run of the night, the game’s First Command Play of the Game. Arnold has now hit eight home runs this summer and ranks top six league-wide in longballs.

In the eighth inning, Minot’s second-half newcomers Jaxon Goldberg and Colton Kirkham each recorded hits, with Kirkham bringing in the eleventh and final run on his single.

Minot sent Kevin Rahe out for three relief innings, and he came up big for the Hot Tots. Rahe would walk two and allow two hits, but no MoonDog runs would score with him in the game. Rahe earned the nine-out save and the Hot Tots got to 1-0 to begin the second half with the 11-6 Sky Dancer Casino Big Win.

Arnold’s two-homer night gave him the billing of SportClips MVP. Hot Tot starting pitcher, Jacob Galloway, fired in the SRT Fastest Pitch of 92 mph in the first inning.

Minot and Mankato will finish up their two-game series on Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 pm.