MANKATO, MINN – The Rochester Honkers couldn’t beat the Mankato MoonDogs in their final meeting this summer as the MoonDogs defeated the Honkers 8-4 on Tuesday night at ISG Field. 

For the second straight night the Honkers scored first. Tyler White (Long Beach State) singled, stole second and third and came around to score on a wild pitch to put the Honkers ahead 1-0. However, Mankato took the lead in the bottom half of the frame. They scored five runs in the inning, three of them unearned after Menelik Israel (Duke) dropped a fly ball in center field. 

The MoonDogs added two more runs in the fourth and another in the sixth to take an 8-1 lead. It stayed that way until the ninth when the Honkers made things a bit interesting. They scored three runs on four hits and were one base runner away from bringing the tying run to the plate but Brendan O’Sullivan (Delta College) grounded out to short to end the game. 

With the loss the Honkers fall to 29-35 overall and 14-16 in the second half. They’re back in action tomorrow night as they begin a two game series in Waterloo against the Bucks. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.