(Rochester, Minn.) – The Mankato MoonDogs seem to have the Rochester Honkers number early in the season. The MoonDogs defeated the Honkers 11-6 tonight at Mayo Field to complete the sweep.
Ryan Casper (Point Loma Nazarene) continued his tear this season going 2-for-3. Casper leads the Northwoods League in batting average posting a .525 mark. Additionally Benjamin Sems (Kansas) had three singles to give him a multi-hit game.
The Honkers pitchers struggled with their control tonight as they walked eight as a team. Chandler Cannon (Walters State) got tagged with the loss after throwing two innings and allowing four runs on three hits. Darin Kilfoyl (Saint Johns River State) tossed 2/3 of an inning without giving up a run. He has now tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings this year. Mankato’s Brett Newberg (Austin Peay) threw six innings and allowed just one earned run to get the win.
The MoonDogs got on the board in the first after a two-run homer by Andrew Morales (Angelo State). Mankato tacked on two more as Max Wright (Indiana State) roped a RBI double and came around to score thanks to a single from Nick Novak (Angelo State).
The Honkers fought back in the third as Derek Scott (Abilene Christian) hit a sacrifice fly and Casper drove in his sixth run of the year with a single.
Kyle MacDonald (Arkansas State) put a run on the board in the fifth with a solo home run and Jake Shepski (Xavier) singled to right to bring home another. CJ Huntley (Indiana State) gave the MoonDogs their third home run of the night blasting a solo shot in the seventh.
Mankato added more insurance in the ninth as Huntley hit an RBI single to right. Cole Pengilly (Gustavus) drove in two more in the ninth with a single and Josh Elvir (Houston) scored on a wild pitch.
The Honkers would not go down quietly as Alex Baeza (Hawaii) drove in two runs in the ninth with a single. Sems added another RBI single later in the inning. Jaylon McLaughlin (Nevada) added the last run of the game with a RBI single.
The Honkers will be back at Mayo Field Friday for a 7:05 p.m. match-up with the defending league champion St. Cloud Rox. Friday is Seat Cushion Night presented by Roto-Rooter. The first 500 fans will receive a seat cushion.
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The Rochester Honkers 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 www.rochesterhonkers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Honkers as your favorite team.
