By Drew Steele / @wooitsdrew / sports@kvsc.org

Rox 3, Mankato 2

Baseball was back in the Granite City on Monday night as the Rox hosted the Mankato MoonDogs. The Rox went into Monday in hopes of snapping their two-game skid after a tough weekend in Willmar.

In the bottom of the first, the Rox were the first able to find the scoreboard. Leadoff hitter Ben Norman got on with a single, stole second, and was driven home on a sacrifice fly from Jordan Barth.

The Rox would extend the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Collin Montez hit one over the left field wall. The homerun was Montez’s first of the early season.

A fifth inning rally would send leadoff hitter Cody Kelly around the bases after reaching base with a single.

The pitching of RJ Martinez, Landen Bourassa, and Kevin Davis would keep the MoonDogs quiet for the first eight innings of play.

In the ninth, Mankato would make it interesting scoring two runs with two outs. They had two men on when their cleanup hitter, Dylan Phillips, came to the plate. Phillips would ground out to the first baseman to end Monday night’s contest.

The Rox won the game by a score of 3-2. With the win, the Rox stay undefeated against the MoonDogs on the season, winning all three contests. The win also keeps the Rox in third place in the Minnesota-Iowa pod and three games back of first place Waterloo. Waterloo comes to St. Cloud on Thursday for a two game series.