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Beetles Rally But Undone by Error

June 24, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods)
Alexandria Beetles News Release


Alexandria, MN - Down 5-0 in the sixth against one of the hottest pitchers in the Northwoods League, the Alexandria Beetles rallied to score five and chase Seth Webster from the game.

But a costly two-out error opener the door for a three-run Mankato eighth and the MoonDogs (19-6) held on to defeat the Beetles (8-16) on a wild Saturday night.

Webster and Beetle starter Michael Reed each put up dueling zeros through the first two innings before Mankato struck in the top of the third on a two-out double by Nick Ratajczak.

The MoonDogs added three more on back-to-back homeruns by Chris Munoz and Chase Fowler and tacked on a fifth in the fifth.

Webster had stymied the Beetles through five innings, allowing just a pair of David Garcia singles, coming off a complete-game shutout in his last start against Rochester. But the Beetles torched him in the sixth with Dylan Raper and Ryan Padilla delivering singles to bring Garcia to the plate in his final game in Alexandria.

Garcia did not disappoint with his first homerun of the season on a line drive to left center, the deepest part of the ballpark. Jimmy Pickens followed with a homerun of his own to right and after a walk to Sean O'Hare, Webster was pulled leading 5-4. After reliever Trevor Belicek retired the first two men he faced, Josh Carpenter and Tanner Vavra put together back to back singles to drive in O'Hare and level the game.

The score remained 5-5 until the top of the eighth inning when Mankato put a pair on with a double and walk sandwiched between a pair of strikeouts. Reliever Alex Guilford induced a groundball to short but it was misplayed allowing two go-ahead runs to score.

The MoonDogs tacked on a third in the inning, taking an 8-5 lead all the way into the bottom of the ninth when the Beetles battled back against closer Patrick Goelz, the league-leader in saves. Carpenter and Vavra singled and off a Dylan Raper groundball to short, the flip to the second-baseman was dropped to load the bases.

The next batter Padilla reached on an error to score one but Vavra, trying to score from second, was thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning. Garcia drove his fourth hit of the game into left field to plate a second run and cut the deficit to one and put runners on first and second, and a Pickens groundout put two into scoring position.

With the tying run at third and the winning run at second, Sean O'Hare hit a ground ball up the middle fielded behind the second base bag by Munoz who fired to first just in time to end the game.

The MoonDogs remain in first place in the North Division a game ahead of the Waterloo Bucks.

The Beetles conclude their five-game home stand at 5:05 CDT against the St. Cloud Rox.

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