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July 15, 2012

Rox help MoonDogs to first losing streak

Mankato falls to 6-5 in second half as struggles continue

By Denny Weller Special to The Free Press

MANKATO — For the first time this season the Mankato MoonDogs are on a losing streak.

After dropping a pair of one-sided games to Willmar, St. Cloud got into the act Sunday night at Franklin Rogers Park with a 14-8 Northwoods League triumph in front of 1,422 fans.

“To me our pitchers didn’t compete like they should tonight,” MoonDogs’ manager Mike Orchard said. “Their hitters got too comfortable in the box and we’re up their taking big swings.

“Losing happens but we expect guys in the lineup to play hard and compete. I question some of the guys to where they were at. We haven’t had good starting pitching the last three nights and when that changes everything will get better for us.”

St. Cloud, which entered the game having lost eight of nine with the ’Dogs, tallied eight runs on eight hits off Mankato starter Kyle McGrath through six innings before roughing up Davis Henderson for five runs on five hits over two frames. Tony Skjefte (Minnesota) led a 13-hit Rox attack with a bunt single, a run-scoring double and a two-run home run.

Trailing 2-0, the MoonDogs tied things with a run in each of the first two innings before a four-run, fourth-inning burst put the Rox in front for good. Nick Rau’s RBI triple ignited the surge and Skjefte capped things with a blast over the left-field fence. Rau, Chris Paul, Al Clarkson and Nick Tanielu collected two hits each as St. Cloud improved to 15-31 overall and 6-6 in the second half.

“Things just aren’t clicking for us right now,” MoonDogs’ second baseman Nick Ratajczak said. “We just need to start grinding out at bats and doing the little things right. We can’t press or panic, we just have to start playing relaxed again and have fun.

“We haven’t experienced a three-game losing streak before but it’s not going to make us freak out or anything like that. Our expectations are still high and it will come back for us. We have to end the streak now and then just get back to playing that good baseball again. ... You can’t panic.”

Mankato (34-12, 6-5) sliced the deficit to 8-4 in the bottom of the fourth when DH David Andriese (Cal-Riverside) smacked a solo homer to right-center field and Chad Christensen (Nebraska) singled and eventually scored on a Rox throwing error. Christensen, Ratajczak and Trever Allen (Arizona State) banged out two hits each for the ’Dogs, who ended up with 10 hits.

J.M. Twitchell drove in two runs in the seventh with an infield single before Cody Ferrell’s double and base hits from Allen and Ratajczak pulled Mankato within 12-8 in the eighth. However, two base running miscues cut the rally short and St. Cloud added two runs on Phil Imholte’s two-run homer an inning later.

“We’re just struggling right now and trying to get out of it,” Allen said. “We’re extremely talented in all aspects of the game and have proven we can beat everybody in this league. It’s tough for other teams to come back when we get on top so the key is to get runs early in games to put pressure on the other team.”

Billy Soule (Minnesota) picked up his first victory in four decisions for the Rox, allowing six runs on seven hits through 6 2/3 innings.

Mankato travels to St. Cloud today for a 7:05 p.m. start before heading back to Franklin Rogers Park Tuesday for Summer St. Patty’s Day against the Rox.

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