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  • Mankato MoonDogs pitcher Logan Odom delivers a pitch against Duluth Thursday at Franklin Rogers Park. Pat Christman

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August 12, 2010

’Dogs bark the loudest in win over Huskies

Aggressive base running, timely hitting spark victory

By Tyler Buckentine Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — Mankato MoonDogs baseball manager Mike Orchard talked about his team’s struggle to show patience at the plate after a loss to St. Cloud Tuesday night in which the MoonDogs lacked offensive punch.

Two nights later, Orchard talked about a Mankato lineup that put together good at-bats, got hits and ran the bases well in a 6-1 win against Northwoods League opponent Duluth Thursday at Franklin Rogers Park.

“We knew going in tonight that the umpire had a tight zone so guys swung at the pitches they wanted to,” Orchard said. “Guys had good at-bats and adjusted to the game pretty well tonight.”

The MoonDogs never scored more than one run or had more than two hits per inning but Mankato’s swiftness on the basepaths and the ability to take advantage of Duluth errors provided enough offense.

Mankato led 1-0 after Trever Adams singled in Jordan Steranka in the first inning. Robby Ort led off the second with a single and took two bases on a throwing error.

Two batters later, Ort darted for home as Danny Miller laid a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to score Robinson.

Sam Lind hit a solo home run to right field to make it 3-0 in the third inning and Cody Aschers answered with a solo shot for the Huskies the next inning.

The home run (No. 9 for the season) pulls him into a second-place tie with teammate Mark Threlkeld in the Northwoods League home run race.

With two outs in the bottom half and Sam Eberle on third base and Miller on first, Miller broke for second on a delayed steal but the throw down to second skipped into center field as Eberle trotted home.

“The base running has been tremendous,” Orchard said. “We’re executing the squeeze and double steal. We’re running the bases really well.”

Eberle and Miller scraped together another run in the sixth when Eberle hit a two-out single. Miller then lined a double to the left-field gap and Eberle would’ve held up at third base but the ball was bobbled in left field, allowing him to score.

“When we put the ball out there we didn’t just settle for one base,” Miller said. “We were always looking for the extra base, putting pressure on their defense and doing whatever to push runs across.”

Lind made some more noise in the seventh inning when he doubled and later scored on a Robbie Robinson single.

For Orchard it was nice to see his starters get some run support.

“We’ve had good starting pitching the past six games and when you score six runs you’re going to win some games,” Orchard said. “So it was good to put some runs on the board. (Mankato starter) Logan Odom competed without his best stuff and that’s the mark of a good pitcher.”

Odom went six innings for the win, allowing four hits.

“The pitchers have been throwing great after the All-Star break,” Miller said. “It’s been frustrating for them when we can’t get them support at the plate or in the field, so it’s good to turn that around.”

The MoonDogs (12-20 second half) play Duluth again at 7:05 p.m. today at Franklin Rogers Park.

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