THUNDER BAY – Taylor Jackson’s (Kirkwood CC) second double of the night, in the tenth inning, made the comeback victory complete for the Mankato MoonDogs (6-6) as they swept the Thunder Bay Border Cats (3-9) with a 4-3 win on Saturday night.
For the second straight night the Border Cats blew a two-run lead late in the game against Mankato.
Thunder Bay was led by Thomas Grilli (Panola) who went 3-for-4 with his first double, two stolen bases and two runs scored. Karsten Vasquez (Sacramento City) and Tyson Fisher both had two hits apiece with Fisher picking up his sixth run batted in, in the loss. Jakob Newton picked up the other RBI.
Nick Novak (Angelo St.), Sky-lar Culver (Arkansas St.), Alex Dorethy (Western Illinois) and Ben Rowdon (Gardner-Webb) each had two-hit nights to join Jackson in the win for the MoonDogs.
Shane Barringer (2-1) (Bellarmine) picked up the win for Mankato by pitching a shutout tenth inning.
Carlos Lequerica (0-1) (Bethune-Cookman) took the loss as he allowed the tying run in the eighth and the winning run. He had two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings of work out of the pen. Austin Breazeale (GateWay CC) pitched 6 2/3 in his best outing of the year. He worked in three punch outs while allowing seven hits and holding the Dogs offense to two runs scored (one earned.)
Mankato has now beaten the Border Cats in all four meetings this season so far. Three of those MoonDog wins have been by just one run.
Thunder Bay will leave Minnesota behind looking to turn the ship around in Wisconsin. They will visit the Eau Claire Express for the first time this season with Sunday’s game slated to start at 3:05pm.
The Border Cats are back on home turf Tuesday, with the first game of a four game series against the La Crosse Loggers. Tuesday is $2 Kids night at the Border Cats. A great way to spend a fun filled night with the whole family.
With files from the Thunder Bay Border Cats
