Alexandria, Minn. — Willmar had plenty of opportunities Wednesday night at Alexandria.

But the Stingers couldn’t translate those opportunities into as win, as they left 14 men on base in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Anchors.

Willmar had two great scoring chances right off the bat, and loaded the bases in the top of the first inning against Blue Anchors starter Eric White. But White induced a ground ball with Tyler Leffler at the plate and two outs in the inning to escape without any damage.

It was much of the same throughout the rest of the night for the Stingers. They filled the bags again in the top of the second inning, this time with only one out. But Sean Beesley popped out on the infield and Storm Wilson grounded back to White to end the frame with Willmar stranding the maximum again. They would load the bases a third time in the fifth and failed to score on that chance, too.

After the Stingers left the bases loaded the second time, Alexandria scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning.

But Willmar didn’t go away and finally scratched across a tally in the top of the fourth. Lucas Tancas, who hit a homer in Tuesday night’s win, continued his hot series with a double to start the fourth. He moved to third on a ground out and then came in on a wild pitch to tie the score.

Alexandria got the run back in the bottom of the fourth and took the lead with two in the fifth, but the Stingers kept in the game. Brian Pruett helped the Stingers’ cause with a solo shot in the sixth inning, which was his first big fly of the year, to bring Willmar within two.

That was the closest the Stingers could get the rest of the way, as the Blue Anchors scored once more in the bottom of the seventh to increase the lead back to three.

Following the recent stretch of road games, Willmar finally returns to the Beehive for an extended stay, starting a five-game homestand Thursday night against Waterloo. Thursday is t-shirt giveaway night, and the first 250 adults through the gate will receive a Stingers t-shirt courtesy of Rambow.

The 2015 Stingers season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com. 

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Brian Pruett. CDI is your local medical imaging provider. It’s your choice where you go for medical imaging, for MRI, CT, mammograms and pain injections, choose CDI. Visit online at myCDI.com/CentralMN.

The Willmar Stingers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Playing its 22nd season of summer collegiate baseball in 2015, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 18 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 120 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (TB). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League Website.  For more information, visit www.willmarstingers.com.