MANKATO — Left fielder Jimmy Patterson ripped three hits and drove in three runs Saturday night at Franklin Rogers Park to lead the Mankato MoonDogs to a 9-5 Northwoods League baseball win over La Crosse.
Trailing 3-0, the MoonDogs erupted for five second-inning runs before adding four more two innings later. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the ’Dogs, who captured the North Division’s first-half title with a franchise-record 23-10 record.
La Crosse (22-14, 1-1 in second half) got to MoonDogs’ starter Jake Petricka early as back-to-back doubles from Justin Preckajlo and Robert Brantly produced a first-inning run.
After Justin Baligod’s two-run single staked Loggers’ ace Kyle Simon (4-2) to a 3-0 advantage, the MoonDogs sent nine hitters to the plate to gain a 5-3 lead. Brenden Webb’s doubled ignited things before shortstop K.C. Serna’s RBI bunt single tied things up.
“We work on bunting constantly at Oregon, it’s kind of like a West Coast thing,” Serna said. “One of my goals coming here was to work on my drag bunting. I took a pitch looking to bunt, but the third baseman was still back giving it to me so I did it again
“I think the whole team realizes that when we’re down in a game, we don’t get down on ourselves. We know we’re going to come back with good at-bats. At Oregon, we were 14-46, so I love coming out here and winning games.”
Mankato extended its lead to 9-3 in the fourth behind singles from Patterson and first baseman Brian Haar along with three Loggers’ errors. La Crosse, which lost for just the second time in its last eight games, committed five errors and stranded 11 runners.
Petricka, a right-hander from Indiana State, worked five innings to pick up his first victory of the season. He struck out four and walked three, giving up four runs on nine hits.
Adam Jung gave up one run on three hits over the final four innings, striking out two, walking one and hitting a batter. Preckajlo, Greg Holt, Aaron Gates and Chris Engell collected two hits apiece for the Loggers.
“We had the bats working tonight,” Patterson said. “It looked like we were all seeing the ball and were putting good swings on the ball. Lately, we’ve been hitting the ball right at people, and today we finally found the holes.
“Usually early in the year the pitching dominates and the second half the hitting starts to find a way. I was really relaxed tonight and made sure the ball got deep before my hands got through. ... I was able to get the barrel on the ball each time.”
Both teams ended up banging out 12 hits.
“Our at-bats are getting much better,” MoonDogs’ manager Mike Orchard said. “Our approach is improving and they’re understanding what pitches they want to hit. We’re starting to see the results of what we’ve been talking about for a while.
The MoonDogs have a day off before beginning a two-game series Monday at Green Bay.
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