Ryan Demmin had the pitching performance he needed and Ryan Rummel had the hit the MoonDogs needed.

After a shaky first inning, Demmin recovered nicely. He faced 27 batters in a row without allowing a hit for the rest of his start and led the Mankato MoonDogs to a 2-1 victory over the Eau Claire Express in a Northwoods League game at Franklin Rogers Park.

“It was huge. I needed this big time ...,” Demmin said. “I kind of needed to get my ERA down — it was a little high — and get the strikeouts and get the confidence from my team for when the playoffs come.”

Demmin allowed a leadoff double to the Express’ Nolan Fadness, and Robbie Knight followed that with an RBI single. Kyle Holloway followed with another single two batters later, but a strikeout and a flyout got Demmin out of the inning.

Over the next seven innings Demmin didn’t allow a hit. He allowed three runners to reach base on a walk, another on a hit by pitch and one runner reached base on an error.

Besides the first inning, Demmin worked his way out of his biggest jam in the seventh inning after the first two batters reached base and moved to second and third following Ryan O’Sullivan’s sacrifice bunt.

“I didn’t really get the first pitch strike going that well. It was probably around 50 percent,” Demmin said. “So I had to dial it down and get (the count) even at 1-1 then I could finally throw my secondary and third pitch — the changeup and the curveball. And I threw a sinker every once and awhile to keep them off balance.”

Demmin struck out eight in the game. He came into Thursday’s game with a 2-6 record and a 4.82 earned run average.

As for the offense, the MoonDogs managed to tie the game in the third inning when the No. 8 hitter, C.J. Belanger, led off with a double and scored on Bobby Munoz’s RBI groundout.

The MoonDogs failed to put any more runs across until the eighth inning, when Rummel, the No. 9 hitter, led off the inning with a triple to right-center field and scored two batters later on Michael Rockett’s RBI single up the middle through a drawn-in infield.

“(Rummel) needs to get his confidence up and not let his offense take control of his defense and take it to the field with him,” Mankato manager Jason Nell said. “It’s good to see him get it done and the latter part of the lineup get it done.”

Scott Matyas allowed a two-out single in the ninth, but struck out Russell Hopkins for the final out of the game for his seventh save of the season.

The MoonDogs (39-25, 19-11 in the second half) play at 7:05 p.m. today at home against Thunder Bay. The two teams are tied for the best overall record in the North Division and the results of the two-game series may have a bearing on home-field advantage in the playoffs. The MoonDogs claimed a playoff berth by winning the first-half title.

“I’m not out here just to be mediocre and throw guys in and out,” Nell said. “I’m out here to win, especially in front of our great fans. They deserve for me to put my best lineup out there.”